Fresnillo 2Q Production Rises; Maintains Fiscal Year Production Guidance

Miner Fresnillo PLC (FRES.LN) on Wednesday reaffirmed its 2017 production guidance as it reported higher silver and gold output during the second quarter of the year.

The Mexican precious metals group said that for the three months ended June 30, silver production was 14.5 million ounces, a 12% rise from last year and a 7.3% increase on the first quarter. The increase was primarily due to the start of operations at San Julian, higher ore processed at Fresnillo and higher ore grade at Cienega, it said.

Also, during the quarter, gold production was 223,000 ounces, up 2.7% from a year earlier as a result of the contribution of San Julian, the company said.

"Our short-term focus will be on ramping-up San Julian (phase II) to full capacity within the next two months and operating the Fresnillo mine once again at full capacity by year-end, whilst continuing to develop the infrastructure in order to prepare the mine for the future expansion. With this progress, we remain on course to meet our 2017 production guidance of 58 million to 61 million ounces of silver and 870,000 to 900,000 ounces of gold," Chief Executive Octavio Alvidrez said.

-Write to Razak Musah Baba at razak.baba@wsj.com; Twitter: @Raztweet

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 26, 2017 02:42 ET (06:42 GMT)