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Mining company Antofagasta kept its output guidance unchanged despite a fall in production in Q1, and a lockdown in Chile that threatens to disrupt activity.
Major maintenance at Los Pelambres originally planned for Q2 was under review, so that some of the non-critical activities could be rescheduled to later in 2021 following a Covid-19 national lockdown in Chile, the company said.
Full year guidance was unchanged at 730-to-760,000 tonnes of copper at a net cash cost of $1.25 per pound and capital expenditure of $1.6 billion.
Copper production in Q1 2021 was in line with guidance at 183,000 tonnes, but 5.7% lower than in the same quarter in 2020 and 5.0% lower than in Q4 2020 mainly due to expected reduced grades at Los Pelambres, the company said.
Gold production fell 9.2% in Q1 year-on-year, while molybdenum production in the quarter increased by 600 tonnes to 3,000 tonnes.