MMG plans to produce 2mn mt of copper between 2021 and 2025 at its Las Bambas mine.
The company’s 2020 production targets of 418,000-445,000mt copper and 225,000-245,000 zinc are slightly below last year’s levels because of lower grades at its Las Bambas and Rosebery mines. Las Bambas, however, is slated to produce 4mn mt of copper during the first decade of commercial production, which significantly boosts the company’s pre-production mine plan.
MMG also intends to increase the mine capacity at its Dugald River property with 200,000mt of annual zinc production.
Copper output and sales
In 2019, the company produced 451,963mt of copper. At Las Bambas, its biggest mine in Peru, MMG’s copper concentrate production increased by 1pc to 382,518mt in 2019 from 385,299mt in 2018. However, output and sales were affected by road blockades by the local community, resulting in 100 days of production loss due to which copper output fell 20,000mt short of expectations. Copper sales in 2019 declined by 19pc to 312,918mt from 384,674mt in 2018.
MMG produced 67,935mt of copper cathodes at Kinsevere in 2019, down by 15pc from 79,711mt in 2018. Last year, the company sold 65,326mt of copper from its Kinsevere mine, down by 18pc from 79,873mt in 2018.
At Rosebery, MMG’s copper concentrate production increased by 3pc in 2019 to 1,150mt from 1,465mt in 2018. Its copper sales from the mine in 2019 totaled 1,415mt, up by 5pc from 1,351mt in 2018.
Zinc & lead output and sales
The company produced 253,520mt of zinc in 2019. At Dugald River, MMG’s 2019 zinc concentrates output increased by 15pc to 170,057mt from 147,320mt in 2018. Zinc sales from Dugald River in 2019 rose by 14pc to 138,409mt from 121,548mt during the prior year. At the same site, MMG mined 23,154mt of lead concentrate, up by 39pc from 16,693mt in 2018. Lead sales in 2019 rose by 41pc to 20,291mt from 14,353mt in 2018.
MMG produced 83,463mt of zinc concentrate in Rosebery in 2019, rising 10pc over 75,721mt produced in 2018. Zinc sales from the mine in 2019 rose by 3pc to 70,129mt, from 68,203mt in the prior year. Rosebery produced 24,549mt of lead concentrate in 2019, down by 15pc from 28,744mt in 2018. Lead sales declined by 13pc in 2019 to 23,690mt from 27,381mt in 2018.
In 2019, the company’s revenues declined by 17pc to $3.03bn from $3.7bn in 2018. The firm had an operating cash flow of $1.15bn, down from 1.7bn in 2018. It also recorded a $125.4mn net loss last year. MMG’s EBITDA in 2019 was $1.5bn, down 17pc from $1.8bn in 2018.