Newmont ‘ramps down’ Yanacocha mine while Peru restricts travel

Newmont will "ramp down" mining at its Yanacocha asset in Peru after the country moved to restrict travel amid global contagion over the Covid-19 coronavirus (2019-nCoV) spread, it said.

Gold production from leeching will continue but mining ore will cease, the company said. Yanacocha produces significant amounts of copper, zinc and lead concentrates as a byproduct of gold mining.

“As the situation is dynamic and the duration of these restrictions are uncertain, we are currently unable to determine the ultimate impact on Yanacocha’s production and costs for 2020,” the company said.

The mine has reserves of 335,658 tonnes of copper as of December 31, 2019, Newmont’s annual financial report shows.

Zinc treatment charges – paid to smelters for the costs of turning concentrate to metal – have showed signs of dropping while arbitrage-related demand from China pushed spot deals below the $300-per-tonne mark.

Fastmarkets’ zinc spot concentrate TC, cif China was assessed at $280-315 per tonne on February 28, adjusted from $285-310 per tonne on January 31.

What to read next
Asian spot copper premiums rose in the week ended Tuesday July 23, with premiums imported into China increasing on improved arbitrage terms. In the US market, supply failed to keep up with strong demand while in Europe participants were mostly off for the summer holidays
In the fourth episode of Fastmarkets critical minerals podcast Fast Forward, Freeport-McMoRan CEO and president Kathleen Quirk tells host Andrea Hotter why there's a preference to build and not build new supplies of copper right now
Demand for primary aluminium from the green transition remains a “brighter spot” for consumption amid an otherwise challenging downstream demand outlook, Eivind Kallevik, Norsk Hydro’s chief executive officer and president, told Fastmarkets in an exclusive interview on Tuesday July 23
Acquisition Company Limited (ACG) has agreed to buy the Gediktepe mine in Turkey — the company’s first deal as it works to build a sizeable mid-tier copper producer, its chairman and chief executive officer told Fastmarkets.
Copper market price speculation is driving the base metals narrative, head of research at UK-based services provider Sucden Financial Daria Efanova said during the company’s third-quarter metals webinar on Wednesday July 17.
Chinese mining giant CMOC reported a 178% year-on-year increase in cobalt metal production for the first six months of 2024, according to an announcement by the company on Friday July 12