Silver Wheaton, the global number one silver streaming firm, announced on Thursday that it is revising its 2011 attributable silver equivalent production guidance from 27 to 28 million silver equivalent ounces to 25 to 26 million silver equivalent ounces.
Stock in the company on the Toronto exchange ended little changed on Thursday, but is down 9.5% so far this year which means investors have taken more than a $1 billion knock. Silver Wheaton expects its 2015 attributable production to grow by 17 million ounces.
The Company’s 2015 attributable production guidance is unchanged at approximately 43 million silver equivalent ounces, including 35,000 ounces of gold. This remains one of the strongest long-term growth profiles in the precious metals industry.
Silver Wheaton’s revised 2011 production guidance is primarily attributable to a slower than anticipated production ramp-up at Goldcorp Inc.’s world-class Peñasquito mine located in Mexico.
While silver grades and recoveries at Peñasquito continue to meet or exceed expectations, processing rates are less than anticipated. This is due to lower than forecast pebble feed from the SAG mills to the high pressure grinding roll circuit, and slower-than-expected progress on the raising of the tailings dam embankment resulting in insufficient water for full operation of the milling circuit.
As per their July 27, 2011, disclosure, Goldcorp continues to focus on the routine operation of the HPGR portion of the milling circuit, the final step in bringing the plant’s throughput to its design capacity of 130,000 tonne-per-day.
Efforts are underway to add additional water supplies to eliminate current and future shortfalls. As well, adequate power has been installed in the grinding and HPGR circuits, such that the pebble generation issue can be circumvented by providing supplemental feed which by-passes the SAG mills.
Goldcorp has commenced a $30 million project to bring the supplemental ore feed system into operation by year-end such that full production capacity of 130,000 tonne-per-day will be achieved by the end of the first quarter of 2012.
About Silver Wheaton
Silver Wheaton is the largest silver streaming company in the world. Based upon its current agreements, forecast 2011 attributable production is 25 to 26 million silver equivalent ounces, including 15,000 ounces of gold.
By 2015, annual attributable production is anticipated to increase significantly to approximately 43 million silver equivalent ounces, including 35,000 ounces of gold. This growth is driven by the Company’s portfolio of world-class assets, including silver streams on Goldcorp’s Peñasquito mine and Barrick’s Pascua-Lama project.
