Business
Q2 2020 PRODUCTION REPORT
Q2 2020 PRODUCTION REPORT.
About this update from Antofagasta Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n RNS Number : 6839T\n Antofagasta PLC\n 22 July 2020\n \n \n \n \n NEWS RELEASE, 22 JULY 2020\n \n \n Q2 2020 PRODUCTION REPORT\n \n \n MAINTAINING SAFE AND RESILIENT OPERATIONS\n \n \n \n Antofagasta plc CEO, Iván Arriagada said:\n \"Our focus during the second quarter has been on the health and safety of our employees and contractors, and the communities near our operations as the full impact of COVID-19 has been felt across Chile. Nevertheless, the hard work and professionalism of our workers and resilience of our operations have allowed us to continue to operate close to forecast production levels while ensuring a safe health environment for our workers.\n \n \"During the quarter, we have been running our operations with approximately two-thirds of our workforce on-site, with the remainder either quarantining or working at home. As we have gained experience of working safely in this new environment we have managed to expand our activity in areas that we initially restricted such as mine development and maintenance. As a result, we believe we can continue to operate at current levels until the end of the year, assuming no further COVID-19 related restrictions are imposed.\n \"Antofagasta's operating resilience has meant that despite the challenges we have faced, our copper production for the half year is close to our original guidance at 371,700 tonnes. Furthermore, net cash costs at $1.12/lb are some 6% lower than last year as a result of the weaker Chilean peso, lower input costs and continued tight cost control.\n \n \"As the outlook remains uncertain, despite the performance of our operations in the first half of 2020 we are maintaining our guidance for the full year at the lower end of the original 725-755,000 tonnes range, at a net cash cost of $1.20/lb.\"\n \n \n \n \n \n HIGHLIGHTS\n \n \n PRODUCTION \n \n \n · \n Group copper production in Q2 2020 was 177,700\n tonnes, a decrease of 8.4% compared to the previous quarter, mainly because of expected lower ore grades at Centinela Concentrates\n \n · \n Group copper production in the first six months of the year was 371,700 tonnes, in line with expectations and 4.0% lower than in the same period last year\n \n · \n Gold production\n for the quarter decreased by 29.3% to 46,000 ounces compared with Q1 mainly due to lower grades at Centinela, and ...