AGM Statement

9 May 2008 10:00

Hochschild Mining PLC09 May 2008 9 May 2008 AGM Statement At the Company's Annual General Meeting held in London today, EduardoHochschild, Executive Chairman of Hochschild Mining plc, commented: Our first full year as a publicly listed company was a transformational one. Wesuccessfully expanded from three mines in one country to six mines in threecountries, Peru, Mexico and Argentina. We delivered a strong set of financialresults - adjusted EBITDA increased by 37% to $148 million and net profit morethan doubled to $85 million resulting in pro forma earnings per share of 28cents. Our strong financial performance and our confidence in the business goingforward underpinned a full year dividend of 9.2 cents per share. We are pleased with operational performance in the first four months of 2008 andare confident that we will achieve our full year production target of 26 millionattributable silver equivalent ounces (16.9 million attributable silver ouncesand 153 thousand attributable gold ounces). The current year is one ofconsolidation, with the Group focused on optimising existing mines whileensuring maximum efficiency, stringent cost control and the highest standards ofhealth, safety and environmental performance. The capacity expansions we are undertaking at Arcata, Selene and San Jose areprogressing well and are on track for completion in the second half of 2008. Inaddition, we anticipate completing the feasibility study at San Felipe, our keydevelopment project in northern Mexico, by the end of this year with productionscheduled to commence in 2010. Since the year end, we have announced a 19.99%strategic investment in Lake Shore Gold Corp., providing an attractive entryinto a high-grade, long-life asset in a mining friendly jurisdiction, Canada. This year we have also announced the appointments of Miguel Aramburu as ChiefExecutive Officer and Ignacio Bustamante as Chief Operating Officer. Theseappointments are indicative of Hochschild Mining's evolution as a public companycommitted to good corporate governance and of our focus on the creation ofshareholder value. With the achievements of 2007, our San Felipe project moving towards feasibilityand our strong project pipeline, we are on track to create the operationalplatform that will enable us to deliver our 2011 production target of 50 millionattributable silver equivalent ounces. We remain positive on the fundamentals for silver and gold given the prospectsfor investment demand based on continued US dollar weakness, concerns aboutgrowing inflation and a further inflow of money into the commodities sector. Weare poised to benefit from the favourable price environment as a fully unhedgedcompany and look forward to 2008 as a year of consolidation of the growthplatform we have created. Enquiries: Hochschild Mining plcWray Barber +44 (0)20 7152 6014Head of Investor Relations Ignacio Rosado +511 437 6007Chief Financial Officer Jose-Augusto Palma +511 317 2026Senior Adviser, Executive Committee FinsburyRobin Walker +44 (0)20 7251 3801Public Relations__________________________________________________________ About Hochschild Mining plc: Hochschild Mining plc is a leading precious metals company listed on the LondonStock Exchange (HOCM.L for Reuters / HOC LN for Bloomberg) with a primary focuson the exploration, mining, processing and sale of silver and gold. Hochschildcurrently operates five underground epithermal vein mines, four located insouthern Peru and one in southern Argentina and one open pit mine in northernMexico. Hochschild also has one early development project in Mexico and sixteenlong-term prospects throughout Latin America. Hochschild has over forty yearsexperience in the mining of precious metal epithermal vein deposits. For further information please visit www.hochschildmining.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange