Peru metal output rises in October, gold, iron ore and tin output drops

By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

December 04, 2015 04:16:24 AM

LIMA (Scrap Monster): The production of almost all major metals by Peru reported healthy growth during the month of October this year. While the output of copper, silver, zinc, lead and molybdenum reported significant increase during the month, gold, tin and iron ore production lagged behind, in accordance with the official government data released yesterday.

According to data released by the Energy and Mines Ministry, copper production rose 32.3% from 120,114 mt in October last year to 158,855 mt in Oct ’15. The jump in copper output was mainly on account of increased mine output from Antamina and Toromocho mines coupled with first shipment from Hudbay Minerals' Constancia mine.

The gold production during October this year declined sharply by 13.3% to 375,631 Oz, in comparison with the output of 432,981 Oz during the same month a year before.

Silver production increased by 16.7% over the year from 10.11 Million Oz to 11.80 Million Oz in October. The rise in silver production is on the back of increased mine output from Antamina the start-up of Hochschild Mining's Inmaculada mine.

Zinc production rose over 10% year-on-year to 123,868 mt in Oct ’15. Lead output too rose nearly 10% to 26,179 mt over the previous year. Molybdenum output too jumped 17% to 1,758 mt in October 2015.

Meantime, tin production by Minsur- the country’s only tin producer, dropped sharply in October this year, falling nearly 6% to 1,696 mt on declining ore grades. Also, Brazil’s iron ore production slumped 25% to 497,247 mt.

The cumulative production for the ten months increased for all metals except tin. Copper production during Jan-Oct ’15 totaled 1.35 million mt, 18.08% higher than the previous year. Gold production saw marginal rise of 0.84% year-on-year to 3.70 million Oz. Silver output jumped higher by over 7% to 106.80 million Oz. Zinc and lead production grew 10.39% and 14.28% respectively. Iron ore output was up slightly by 0.83% to 6.42 million mt.