(Alliance News) - Gold and silver miner Fresnillo PLC on Wednesday lowered its full-year gold guidance "marginally" as working restrictions due to the virus at the Herradura mine in Mexico hurt production.
"As we set out at our half-year results, we have seen some impact as a result of the additional working restrictions in place at the open-pit mines and this has affected our gold production, so we have marginally reduced our full-year guidance for gold," said Chief Executive Officer Octavio Alvidrez.
Shares in Fresnillo were down 3.9% at 1,281.46 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
The Mexican company now expects annual gold production in the range of 745,000 to 775,000 ounces. Its previous guidance range was between 785,000 and 815,000 ounces.
For the three months to September 30, gold output fell 6.3% quarter-on-quarter to 172,718 ounces from 184,356 due to the lower overall speed of recovery and ore grade at both Herradura and Noche Buena mines.
Gold output fell 18% year-on-year from 209,752 ounces in the year ago quarter. Year-to-date production was down 14% to 554,037 ounces due to a lower volume of ore processed at Herradura and Noche Buena as a result of Covid-19 related restrictions.
Attributable silver production for the third quarter fell 2.3% quarter-on-quarter to 13.3 million ounces from 13.6 million due to a lower ore grade and a lower volume of ore processed at the Fresnillo mine. Year-on-year quarterly silver output was flat, while year-to-date it was down 1.8% to 40.1 million ounces.
FTSE 100-listed Fresnillo has retained its 2020 silver production guidance in the range of 51 million to 56 million ounces.
Elsewhere, lead output fell 6.4% quarter-on-quarter to 15,144 tonnes, and zinc production dropped 1.5% to 26,320 tonnes.
By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
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Fresnillo (FRES)