Peru's Buenaventura ups 2024 gold and zinc guidance

Peruvian precious metals-focused miner Buenaventura reported an increase in gold and zinc production in the third quarter, and revised upwards its guidance for both metals this year.

Silver and lead guidance remained unchanged, but had been revised upwards following second quarter results.

According to the company, the Coimolache, Julcani and Uchucchacua mining units exceeded expectations in 3Q24. At Coimolache, a bigger gold contribution was seen due to a higher percolation rate in the leaching pad, while at Julcani and Uchucchacua the increase in gold and zinc production was due to higher than projected ore grades.

The 2024 guidance is as follows:

Metal	Previous estimate	Current estimate
Gold (oz)	131,500-146,700	139,600-155,000
Silver (Moz)	14.0-15.4	14.0-15.4
Lead (t)	17,400-20,000	17,400-20,000
Zinc (t)	24,300-26,800	26,300-29,800
Copper (t)	55,000-60,000	55,000 - 60,000

Source: Buenaventura. Prepared by BNamericas

The data considers the production of the mines of which Buenaventura is 100% owner – Uchucchacua, Yumpag, Julcani, Orcopampa, Tambomayo and La Zanja – and attributable output from El Brocal and Coimolache, in which it has stakes of 61.43% and 40.09%, respectively.

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GOLD

Buenaventura said attributable Q3 gold production amounted to 39,690oz, up from 35,247oz in 2Q24 and above expectations.

While the largest contribution came from Orcopampa at 17,831oz, the additional boost came from production of Coimolache and Julcani. The former produced 8,368oz of the precious metal, while Julcani produced 1,428oz, a figure similar to the total produced in the first half of the year.

With the new upward adjustment, Buenaventura gold production is expected to be similar to that of 2023, when output was 155,334oz.

SILVER

Attributable silver production was 4.24Moz in 3Q24, up from 3.91Moz in 2Q24 and 2.78Moz in 1Q24. Yumpag and Uchucchacua accounted for the higher production – with 2.59Moz and 608,412oz, respectively – and output was in line with expectations.

In the case of El Brocal and Tambomayo, production was 516,480oz and 434,054oz, both higher than in 2Q24 when the figures were below 400,000oz.

ZINC

Zinc production totaled 7,374t in 3Q24, up from 6,352t in 2Q24 but down from 8,814t in 1Q24. The rebound in the last quarter prompted Buenaventura to revise its outlook upwards. Uchucchacua produced 6,153t of zinc in 3Q24 and Tambomayo 1,222t.

COPPER AND LEAD  

Copper production remained within expectations at 16,769t in Q3, up from 10,123t in the previous quarter. All Buenaventura's copper production comes from the El Brocal mine. In the first nine months output was 42,334t.

In the case of lead, production totaled 4,953t in Q3 and 14,523t in January-September.