Peru's metals output surged in February, Zinc and Tin output drops

LIMA (Scrap Monster): The production of almost all major metals by Peru reported healthy growth during the month of February this year. While the monthly output of copper, lead, gold, silver and molybdenum reported significant increase during the month, 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 nearly 70% from 99,721 mt in February 2015 to 169,114 mt in Feb ‘16. Mining majors including Freeport-McMoran, Chinalco and Hudbay Minerals reported increased output during the month. The China Minmetals' Las Bambas mine too contributed to the rise in production.

The gold production declined rose 13.3% in Feb ’16. The gold output by the country totaled 13,122 kilograms, in comparison with the output of 11,580 kg during February last year.

Silver output was up by 24% over the year from 296,273 kilograms in February last year to 367,984 kilograms in February this year. The rise in output is partly attributed to the startup of Inmaculada mine by Hochschild Mining.

Zinc output declined by almost 5.4% year-on-year to 107,003 mt in Feb ‘16. The country’s zinc production had totaled 113,151 mt during the same month a year before. The drop in zinc output is mainly on account of lower production figures at Antamina, Volcan and Milpo. On the other hand, Lead output rose 4.4% to 25,276 mt from 24,221 mt a year before.

Meantime, tin production by Minsur- the country’s only tin producer, dropped sharply in February 2016, falling by 8.4% to 1,488 mt from 1,625 mt a year before.

Molybdenum production totaled 1,578 mt, rising significantly by 6.3% from 1,485 mt a year before.