Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) has reported robust production figures which indicate that it is on track for full year guidance of 37mnoz silver equivalent. H1 2017 production of 17.9mnoz on an attributable basis was up 5% YoY with a 9% increase in silver production to 8.9mnoz and a 3% increase in gold production to 121koz.
At Inmaculada ore throughput returned to the full run rate in Q2 after a weak Q1 while production benefitted further from higher silver grades. Production at Pallancata of 1.9mnoz was up 52% YoY in Q2 while in H1 production of 3.2mnoz silver equivalent was up 81% YoY. This strong performance was offset by a reduction in throughput at Arcata where production was down 22% YoY to 2.9mnoz silver equivalent. This was due to a change to the mining plan.
HOC has strengthened its already robust balance sheet, reducing net debt by 14% through the period to US$160mn. In addition to production guidance, cash cost guidance was also maintained at US$12-12.7/oz.