Peruvian metals producer Minera El Brocal increased copper and zinc output in the fourth quarter after bringing online a $473 million expansion of its concentrator plant, the company said Wednesday.
Copper concentrates production rose 35% year on year to 53,472 mt in the quarter, while zinc gained 38% to 40,309 mt, and lead fell 22% to 9,931 mt, Lima-based El Brocal said in a corporate filing to the Lima Stock Exchange. The company, which did not report silver production, treated 1.71 million mt of ore, a 16% increase.
Zinc production for the full year of 2016 rose 9% to 115,548 mt, while copper jumped 57% to 188,747 mt and lead fell 28% to 27,938 mt, it said.
Parent company Buenaventura set 2017 production guidance for the unit at 70,000-80,000 mt of zinc, 3.5-4.5 million oz of silver and 55,000-65,000 mt of copper fine content.
Fine zinc sales rose 31% to 16,728 mt in the quarter, while copper sales gained 38% to 12,975 mt and gold sales increased by 43% to 4,012 oz, El Brocal said. Lead sales fell 30% to 4,143 mt and silver sales dropped 15% to 771,345 oz, it said.
El Brocal sold copper at $5,404/mt in the fourth quarter, up 12% from a year earlier, while zinc gained 59% to $2,531/mt and lead gained 33% to $2,209/mt, the company said. Silver prices rebounded 17% to $16.80/oz and gold climbed 10% to $1,213/oz.
The company posted a $3.4 million fourth-quarter profit compared with a $32.5 million loss a year earlier after cutting treatment costs by 3.3% to $34.90/mt. Sales rose 69% to $81.6 million in the quarter from $48.2 million a year earlier.
El Brocal produced 53,319 mt of zinc, 3.7 million oz of silver and 32,061 mt of copper fine content in 2015, according to Buenaventura's website. Peru is the world's second-largest copper and silver producer and No. 3 in zinc.
