Hochschild ‘s first quarter attributable silver production dropped 8.7% to 5.08 million ounces

Hochschild Mining PLC said Wednesday it remains on track to deliver its full year attributable silver production target after taking into account lower first quarter gold and silver production.

The Latin American precious metals producer said attributable silver equivalent production dropped 8.7% on year in the first quarter to 5.08 million troy ounces.

Attributable silver production dropped 8.2% on the year to 3.39 million ounces in the first quarter, while attributable gold production dropped 9.6% to 28,290 ounces during the same period.

The company said production at its main operations is forecast to remain broadly stable throughout the year as it continues to mine close to average reserve grade, thereby allowing it to meet its full year silver equivalent production target.

“We have once again delivered a solid start to the year and we are on track to meet our 2012 production target of 20.0 million silver equivalent ounces,” said Hochschild’s Chief Executive Ignacio Bustamante in a statement.

The company also said that its record $90 million exploration program for 2012 is progressing well with engineering, development and infrastructure contracts awarded during the quarter for its Inmaculada and Crespo projects.

Hochschild’s shares closed Tuesday at 488.3 pence a share, resulting in a market capitalization of GBP1.65 billion. The company’s share price is up 27% since the beginning of the year.

Hochschild, based in Lima, Peru, operates mines Peru, Argentina and Mexico. – MarketWatch

Tags: Hochschild, Silver, Silver Mines, silver mining industry

Posted by Silver Guru on Apr 18 2012. Filed under Silver mining. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry