Peru metal output rises in December, gold, zinc and tin output drops

By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

January 28, 2016 07:43:44 AM

LIMA (Scrap Monster): The production of almost all major metals by Peru reported healthy growth during the month of December last year. While the output of copper, silver, lead and molybdenum reported significant increase during the month, gold, tin and zinc 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 sharply by 64% from 113,700 mt in December 2014 to 186,450 mt in Dec ’15. The jump in copper output was mainly on account of increased mine output from Antamina and Toromocho mines coupled with initial shipments from Hudbay Minerals' Constancia mine.

The gold production during December 2015 declined sharply by 7.8% to 378,605 Oz, in comparison with the output of 410,507 Oz during the same month a year before.

Silver production increased by 19% over the year from 11 Million Oz to 13.10 Million Oz in December last year. The rise in silver production is on the back of increased mine output from Antamina, Buenaventura and Volcan and first output from Hochschild Mining's Inmaculada mine.

Zinc production declined by almost 2% year-on-year to 116,778 mt in Dec ’15. Lead output rose nearly 15% to 30,338 mt over the previous year. Molybdenum output has jumped higher by 22.8% to 1,867 mt in December 2015.

Meantime, tin production by Minsur- the country’s only tin producer, dropped sharply in December 2015, falling nearly 23% to 1,841 mt on declining ore grades.

Peru’s iron ore production during Dec ’15 totaled 477,582 tons, rising sharply by over 40% when matched with the output of 339,197 tons during December 2014. The cumulative iron ore production during the entire year 2015 were up marginally by 1.8% from 7.19 million tons in 2014 to 7.32 million tons in 2015.