Hochschild Mining Q2 hit by Covid closures; Inmaculada back by end-July

Hochschild Mining reported a fall in second quarter production as coronavirus-related closures hit output, adding that a production team would return to its suspended Inmaculada mine next week.

The company on Wednesday said attributable production fell to 32,712 gold equivalent ounces from 120,860 ounces reported a year ago.

Gold production fell to 25.17 koz in the second quarter from 84.18 koz in 2019, while silver production declined to 1.48m ounces from 5.17m ounces.

Lockdowns in Peru and Argentina led to Hochschild shuttering its three mines.

“The Inmaculada and Pallancata mines were stopped for 11 weeks with operations at each mine resuming on 31 May and 1 June respectively whilst the San Jose operation in Argentina stopped for six weeks and resumed on 27 April with a phased ramp-up process,=” the company said.

Operations at Inmaculada mine were suspended last week after after a number of workers there tested positive for coronavirus. The company said it was not providing revised 2020 guidance as a result.

Chief executive Ignacio Bustamante said the 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."