UPDATE: BMO Capital Markets Maintains Market Perform, $18.50 PT on Silver Standard Resources

BMO Capital Markets reiterates its Market Perform rating and $18.50 target price on Silver Standard Resources

on takeaways from a visit to the company's Pirquitas site. BMO Capital Markets says, "During Q1/12, SSRI milled at a record rate of ~4.6ktpd, exceeding name-plate capacity of 3.8ktpd. Higher milling rates were achieved through optimization efforts at the mill that appear to be sustainable on a goforward basis. Following on the signing of two long-term smelter contracts for 60% of production in Q1/12, SSRI expects to have close to all of its concentrate locked-up under long-term agreements by the end of Q2/12. BMO Research expects quarterly sales volumes through the remainder of the year to exceed production as SSRI sells down its large inventory of concentrate." SSRI closed at $14.42 on Monday.