Peru's Gold, Copper, Zinc, Silver Output Down In April

LIMA, Jun 01, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- Peru's gold, copper, zinc and silver output declined in April, the government said.

Gold production dropped about 21% to 12,354 kilograms from a year earlier, said Peru's Ministry of Mines and Energy in a statement on its webpage Tuesday.

The drop in gold output was mainly due to lower production at Minera Yanacocha, majority owned by Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), which was down by about 37%.

Copper production also fell 1.9% to 101,074 metric tons. The drop was due to lower production at Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde SAA (CVERDEC1.VL), down 7.6%, and at Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO), down 4.5%, the ministry said. Compensating was higher copper output from Compania Minera Milpo SAA (MILPOC1.VL), up 49%, and from Sociedad Minera El Brocal SAA (BROCALC1.VL), up 45%.

Silver production in Peru, the world's largest producer, also dropped in April by 0.1% to 312,248 kilograms.

Zinc production was down 3.9% to 117,780 metric tons in April, while lead production fell 10% to 22,089 tons and tin production dropped 1.7% to 3,147 tons.

Higher outputs for iron, molybdenum and tungsten were recorded in April. Iron production was almost 20% to 436,037 tons, molybdenum was up 68% to 1,267 tons, and tungsten was up 44% to 66 tons.