Antofagasta keeps guidance unchanged despite second Covid wave

The full-year guidance assumed that Covid-19 restrictions would remain in place for all of 2021, the LSE-listed miner reported on Wednesday.

“In addition to health measures we introduced last year, we have further reduced our on-site workforce and these actions have allowed us to continue to operate our mines and projects under these challenging conditions,” said CEO Ivan Arriagada.

However, Antofagasta is reviewing major maintenance at Los Pelambres that were originally planned for the second quarter. The maintenance would require many additional workers on-site and would likely be rescheduled to later in the year.

The more extensive lockdowns would also not have an impact on the growth projects at Los Pelambres, Centinela and Zalidvar.

The miner produced 183 000 t at a net cash cost of $1.16/lb in the first quarter. Production was 5.7% lower than in the same quarter in 2020 and 5% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2020, owing to expected reduced grades at Los Pelambres.

Gold production was 59 100 oz in the first quarter of 2021, 9.2% lower than in the same period of 2020 and 8% higher than in the fourth quarter. Molybdenum output increased by 600 t year-on-year to 3 000 t.