Fresnillo reports increased silver and gold production
Miner Fresnillo has reported an uptick in production of silver, gold, lead and zinc in the third quarter of the year.
Silver production was up 6.7 per cent, gold was up 20.9 per cent, lead was up 19 per cent and zinc was up 32.1 per cent compared with the same quarter last year.
Production of silver dropped by 9.4 per cent compared to the previous quarter, which Fresnillo said was due to an expected lower ore grade and lower recovery rate at Saucito and a lower ore grade at Fresnillo resulting mainly from accessing stopes with higher zinc and lower silver ore grades, as well as "reduced equipment availability resulting from a recurrence of maintenance issues; and a temporary shortage of skilled workers to operate recently opened stopes".
"The turnaround plan at Fresnillo continues to progress, although not at the pace at which we had originally planned," said chief executive Octavio Alvidrez.
"We continue to expect an increase in silver grades and production for the full year compared to 2015, however, recently volumes processed have come under pressure as a result of some equipment availability and personnel issues.
"Importantly, we remain on track to meet our full year production guidance of 850-870 koz gold and 49-51 moz of silver."
The company's share price was down 2.15 per cent mid-morning.
