Hochschild Mining has announced its intention to suspend operations at the Arcata precious metal mine, in south west Peru, and place it on care and maintenance.
Image: Natural silver nugget, 1 cm long. Photo: courtesy of Jurii/Wikimedia Commons.
It is anticipated that full care and maintenance will be in effect by the second quarter of 2019.
An exploration programme and permitting work are expected to continue along with a regular review of the market conditions for potential restart of operations in the future. In addition, the Arcata unit has already been fully impaired for accounting purposes.
Ignacio Bustamante, Chief Executive Officer said: “This decision has been expected but is still disappointing for the organisation. Arcata was the Company’s first mining operation and started producing in 1964. It has been an excellent operation with an outstanding workforce and supportive communities but the continuing low silver price over some years and current geological conditions leaves us no option.
“We have recently been making the necessary preparations and will work closely with our employees and key contractors to mitigate the impact and manage carefully the staged shutdown of operations whilst maintaining our community programmes. We extend our sincere thanks to our entire workforce, the local communities and all our partners in the mining sector who have assisted Arcata over its decades of operation.”
Source: Company Press Release