Zinc, lead and silver drive mining production growth in Mexico

Mexico’s production of zinc, lead and silver registered the biggest increases among mining products both in August and in the first eight months of the year, according to the monthly report of statistics office Inegi.

Mining and metallurgical production increased 6.2% year-on-year in the eighth month, with higher output also of non-coking coal and fluorite. Production of gold, iron pellets, copper, gypsum and sulfur all fell.

Zinc production totaled 30,522t in August, up 91% on the same month 2023. From January to August, output rose 20.6%, the most in the industry, the report shows without providing hard figures.

Lead production increased 46.9% in August to 12,069t, while in the first eight months it rose 5.1%.

Silver output grew 19.8% to 317,532kg (10.2Moz) in August and rose 4.7% in the eight months.

Production of gold, which has been registering all-time high prices of above US$2,700/oz, fell 1.5% in August to 5,374kg but rose 1.9% year to date, according to Inegi.

Copper production dropped 2.6% in the month to 42,274t and fell 31.2% between January and August.