Fresnillo completes construction work related to electrical grid tie-in at Juanicipio

Silver producer Fresnillo has wrapped up all construction activities related to the final tie-in to the electrical grid at its Juanicipio mine, leaving all systems now ready to be energised.

Fresnillo said on Tuesday that prior to making the final tie-in to the electrical grid, Mexico's state-owned electricity regulator, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, requested additional testing to verify compatibility between new and updated substation equipment, as well as existing older infrastructure.

The FTSE 100-listed group also noted that specialised start-up protocols and operations controls may also need to be implemented during the initial mill start-up to prevent local power fluctuations.

However, given the "extensive preparatory and testing work" already undertaken, Juanicipio's project team does not foresee "any impediment" to a successful conclusion to the precautionary measures.

"Based on the timing of these tests, we expect that power for final commissioning and start of operations should be available by the end of October, and that production ramp-up will commence immediately thereafter," said Fresnillo.

"In the meantime, stoping, underground development and material stockpiling at Juanicipio will continue uninterrupted. We will continue to make available any unused plant capacity at Fresnillo and Saucito operations to process mineralised material produced at Juanicipio during this period."

Fresnillo said there would be no impact on full-year production guidance as a result of the aforementioned measures.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com