Mexico's silver and copper production falls as gold inches up

Mexico's silver output fell 3.1% year-on-year in March to 332,777kg (about 107Moz), while gold production grew 2.2% to 7,505kg, according to statistics agency Inegi.

Compared to February, silver production was down 1.6%, and gold was 4.9% higher. In the first quarter, silver output fell 3.5%, and gold was up 2.2%.

Copper production fell 7.7% y-o-y in March to 37,903t and 8.6% compared to February’s 41,448t. For Q1, production shrank by 2.8% y-o-y.

Overall mining and metallurgical production – including extraction, smelting, and refining – fell 2.3% y-o-y in March, worsening the stagnation that the sector has been experiencing since 2022.

A week earlier, Inegi revealed that metal and non-metallic mining shrank 1.7% year-on-year in March, according to Inegi’s industrial activity report.

Luis Humberto Vázquez, president of the association of mining engineers, metallurgists and geologists (AIMMGM), recently attributed the continued stagnation of mining production to the lack of new projects due to the freeze on granting concessions under the current government.

Sonora is the largest gold and copper-producing state in Mexico, while Zacatecas leads the production of silver, lead, and zinc, according to Inegi.