15th Jul 2020 10:24
(Alliance News) - Hochschild Mining PLC on Wednesday said that second-quarter and first half production was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the company expects to restart operations at the Inmaculada mine in Peru by next week.
Chief Executive Officer Ignacio Bustamante said: "The second quarter results inevitably reflect the impact of Covid-19 on the countries we operate in. However, we remain in a strong financial position and currently expect that the extensive protective measures we have implemented across the organisation will allow our full team to start returning to Inmaculada next week.
"We look forward to an ambitious second half schedule, particularly in our brownfield drilling programme, and we expect to issue our updated 2020 guidance when we have assessed the full impact of the current suspension."
The FTSE 250-listed company, which also operates mines in Argentina, said attributable gold production in the six months to June 30 fell to 79,073 ounces from 138,080 ounces a year ago. Silver production fell to 4.1 million ounces from 8.7 million ounces.
For the second quarter, attributable gold production declined to 19,647 ounces from 70,660 ounces. Silver output fell to 1.1 million ounces from 2.9 million.
Hochschild Mining said its operations are currently halted due to a number of cases of Covid-19 with a reduced workforce performing care and maintenance activities. The Inmaculada mining team is expected to remobilise during the week starting July 20 and is scheduled to reach full production by the end of July.
Shares in the company were up 6.1% at 201.71 pence each in London on Monday morning.
By Tapan Panchal; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Hochschild