Heavy seasonal rains caused a contingency pond to overflow at the dry stack tailings facility of Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.'s San Jose silver mine in Mexico, according to an Oct. 11 release.

The overflow continued for about two hours and led to the spill of about 1,500 cubic meters of water carrying sediment and minor amounts of fine tailings from the facility's drainage system into the nearby Coyote Creek.

Fortuna said no industrial process water was discharged, noting that the San Jose operation uses a cyanide-free process to produce concentrate.

Additionally, the company said the incident did not damage the tailings dam or the dry stack infrastructure, and both are fully operational.

Fortuna is mitigating the risk of future overflows by immediately increasing its pumping capacity at the contingency pond. It is also working with relevant authorities as they inspect San Jose and the Coyote Creek.