CORRESP 1 filename1.htm First Majestic Silver Corp.: Correspondence - Filed by newsfilecorp.com

October 9, 2013

Ms. Tia L. Jenkins
Senior Assistant Chief Accountant
Office of Beverages, Apparel, and Mining
Division of Corporation Finance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549

  Re: First Majestic Silver Corp.
  Form 40-F for the Year Ended December 31, 2012
  Filed March 28, 2013
  File No. 001-34984
  Prior Response dated September 18, 2013

Dear Ms. Jenkins:

We hereby acknowledge receipt of the additional comment letter dated October 3, 2013 (the “Comment Letter”) from the Staff (the “Staff”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) concerning the above captioned Annual Report on Form 40-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012 (the “40-F”) and our prior response dated September 18, 2013. We submit this letter in response to your additional comments contained in the Comment Letter. For ease of reference, we have reproduced the text of the comments in bold-face type below, followed by our responses. Terms used but not defined herein have the meanings set forth in the 40-F.

Form 40-F for the Year Ended December 31, 2012

Exhibit 99.3 Management’s Discussion and Analysis
Total Cash Cost Per Ounce and Total Production Cost Per Tonne, page 19

1.

We note your response to our prior comment 9. In future filings, please include a table which breaks out the individual by-product credits attributable to lead, gold, zinc and iron ore on both a dollar and per ounce basis and reconcile these amounts to total by-product credits. Please provide to us a draft of your revised disclosure.

   

Regarding individual by-product credits attributable to lead, gold, zinc and iron on both a dollar and per ounce basis, we propose to augment our Cash Cost reconciliation table to disclose this information. The revised proposed disclosure, using December 31, 2012 data to illustrate, is presented below:




(expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars,   Year Ended December 31, 2012     Year Ended December 31, 2011  
except ounce and per ounce amounts)   San Martin     La Parrilla     La Encantada     La Guitarra     Total     San Martin     La Parrilla     La Encantada     Total  
Cost of sales (as reported)                         $  79,747                     $  66,787  
Add (Deduct): Cost of sales for Vancouver,
  Europe and intercompany elimination
                  (497 )               (2,008 )
Cost of sales (mine) $  12,445   $  26,324   $  35,088   $  5,393   $  79,250   $  12,641   $  16,021   $  36,117   $  64,779  
Add: Third party smelting and refining   310     12,600     1,927     2,978     17,815     427     6,425     1,659     8,511  
Deduct: Employee benefits   -     -     (2,144 )   (58 )   (2,202 )   (383 )   (13 )   (4,819 )   (5,215 )
Inventory changes   386     (16 )   1,657     (1,048 )   979     107     456     1,245     1,808  
Other non-cash costs   29     (534 )   (601 )   57     (1,049 )   (364 )   (541 )   (282 )   (1,187 )
Total cash cost before by-product credits (A) $  13,170   $  38,374   $  35,927   $  7,322   $  94,793   $  12,428   $  22,348   $  33,920   $  68,696  
Deduct: By-product credits attributed to                                                      
   Gold   (1,994 )   (1,158 )   (172 )   (3,001 )   (6,325 )   (1,686 )   (720 )   (151 )   (2,557 )
   Lead   -     (10,696 )   (2 )   -     (10,698 )   -     (6,777 )   -     (6,777 )
   Zinc   -     (3,460 )   -     -     (3,460 )   -     (25 )   -     (25 )
   Iron   -     -     (1,776 )   -     (1,776 )   -     -     (895 )   (895 )
   Total by-product credits   (1,994 )   (15,314 )   (1,950 )   (3,001 )   (22,259 )   (1,686 )   (7,522 )   (1,046 )   (10,254 )
Total cash cost after by-product credits (B) $  11,176   $  23,060   $  33,977   $  4,321   $  72,534   $  10,742   $  14,826   $  32,874   $  58,442  
                                                       
Tonnes produced   286,206     670,670     1,515,795     60,499     2,533,170     286,758     356,996     1,384,040     2,027,794  
Total ounces of silver produced   957,195     2,848,171     4,036,502     389,927     8,231,795     1,055,745     1,759,412     4,366,636     7,181,793  
Deduct: Metal deduction ounces   3,926     98,376     20,182     118,819     241,303     5,279     60,322     21,833     87,434  
Payable ounces of silver produced (C)   953,269     2,749,795     4,016,320     271,108     7,990,492     1,050,466     1,699,090     4,344,803     7,094,359  
                                                       
Total cash cost per ounce before
  by-product credits (A/C)
$  13.81   $  13.95   $  8.95   $  27.01   $  11.87   $  11.83   $  13.15   $  7.81   $  9.68  
Total cash cost per ounce after
  by-product credits (B/C)
$  11.72   $  8.38   $  8.46   $  15.94   $  9.08   $  10.22   $  8.72   $  7.57   $  8.24  
                                                       
Mining cost per ounce $  3.79   $  2.89   $  1.85   $  6.14   $  2.58   $  4.01   $  3.28   $  1.24   $  2.14  
Milling cost per ounce   6.82     4.45     5.34     3.46     5.15     4.79     3.96     5.04     4.74  
Indirect cost per ounce   2.44     1.20     0.92     5.32     1.35     2.21     1.68     0.87     1.26  
Total production cost per ounce $  13.05   $  8.54   $  8.11   $  14.92   $  9.08   $  11.01   $  8.92   $  7.15   $  8.14  
Transport and other selling costs per ounce   0.44     0.59     0.36     1.11     0.48     0.41     0.45     0.28     0.34  
Smelting and refining costs per ounce   0.32     4.58     0.48     10.98     2.23     0.41     3.78     0.38     1.20  
Royalties per ounce   -     0.24     -     -     0.08     -     -     -     -  
Total cash cost per ounce before
  by-product credits (A/C)
$  13.81   $  13.95   $  8.95   $  27.01   $  11.87   $  11.83   $  13.15   $  7.81   $  9.68  
Deduct: By-product credits attributed to                                                      
   Gold by-product credits per ounce   (2.09 )   (0.42 )   (0.04 )   (11.07 )   (0.79 )   (1.61 )   (0.44 )   (0.03 )   (0.35 )
   Lead by-product credits per ounce   0.00     (3.89 )   0.00     0.00     (1.35 )   0.00     (3.98 )   0.00     (0.96 )
   Zinc by-product credits per ounce   0.00     (1.26 )   0.00     0.00     (0.43 )   0.00     (0.01 )   0.00     0.00  
   Iron by-product credits per ounce   0.00     0.00     (0.45 )   0.00     (0.22 )   0.00     0.00     (0.21 )   (0.13 )
   Total by-product credits per ounce   (2.09 )   (5.57 )   (0.49 )   (11.07 )   (2.79 )   (1.61 )   (4.43 )   (0.24 )   (1.44 )
Total cash cost per ounce after
  by-product credits (B/C)
$  11.72   $  8.38   $  8.46   $  15.94   $  9.08   $  10.22   $  8.72   $  7.57   $  8.24  
                                                       
Mining cost per tonne $  12.62   $  11.84   $  4.90   $  27.49   $  8.15   $  14.70   $  15.61   $  3.90   $  7.49  
Milling cost per tonne   22.71     18.26     14.14     15.51     16.23     17.54     18.83     15.83     16.60  
Indirect cost per tonne   8.13     4.93     2.42     23.84     4.24     8.10     8.04     2.71     4.41  
Total production cost per tonne $  43.46   $  35.03   $  21.46   $  66.84   $  28.62   $  40.34   $  42.48   $  22.44   $  28.50  

The Company hereby acknowledges that: the Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the filing; staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments do not foreclose the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) from taking any action with respect to the filing; and the Company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the United States.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact me at (604) 688-3033 or Stewart Muglich of Clark Wilson, LLP at (604) 687-5700.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Raymond Polman, CA

Raymond Polman, Chief Financial Officer

cc: Jamie Kessel, Securities and Exchange Commission
  Keith Neumeyer, President and Chief Executive Officer
  Ramon Davila Flores, Chief Operating Officer
  Stewart Muglich, Clark Wilson, LLP
  James Beeby, Miller O’Connor Irwin, LLP
  Fraser Liptrot, Deloitte LLP