Peru’s Congress removes energy and mines minister amid sector protests
Romulo Mucho was removed from his post on Tuesday amid protests from small-scale miners in the Andean nation.
The firm’s flagship Inmaculada gold and silver project is a 20,000 hectare project located in Hochschild’s southern Peru cluster.
Silver miner Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) managed to slash its reported interim loss in the first half of the year, as the combined benefits of an aggressive cost-cutting strategy and increased output from its mines in Peru and Argentina began to kick in.
The company logged Wednesday a 4% increase in adjusted core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), for the six months ended June 30. Net revenue, however, fell 8.6% to $282 million in the period.
Joshua Raymond, chief market strategist at Cityindex told MINING.com the results reveal the company’s relative stability, “after an unwanted volatile period for shareholders that has seen the firm cancel dividend payouts until its cash position strengthens.”
Hochschild also delivered a strong operational performance, producing 11.9m silver-equivalent ounces at a much lower overall cost than last year. This was partly thanks to increased production at its Arcata mine in Arequipa, southern Peru, where higher-grade ore bodies have been targeted.
The miner intends to raise output by around 70% over the next few years, bringing another mine on stream once its flagship Inmaculada gold and silver project in southern Peru is up and running — probably in the fourth quarter.
Image courtesy of Hochschild Mining.
