London 29/08/2016 - Chinalco Mining Corp International (CMCI) has cut its 2016 guidance for copper in concentrate production at its Toromocho copper mine in Peru by 7-12 percent to around 160,000-170,000 tonnes, the company said in its half year report filed at the Hong Kong stock exchange late last week.
In March, CMCI had projected copper in concentrate output of 179,000 tonnes from Toromocho this year, which would be a decline of 1.8 percent from production of 182,288 tonnes in 2015.
The recovery rate at the mine was affected due to the complexity and the high oxidation rate of the ores mined in the open slope mining area so far this year, it said.
But the company said its does not expect long-term production at the project to be materially affected.
In the first half of this year, the project achieved production of 73,801 tonnes of copper in concentrate.
CMCI reported a loss of $46 million in the first half, compared to a $12.2 million profit in the same period last year.
The Toromocho project had commenced commissioning in December 2013 with commercial production starting in June 2015.
CMCI’s subsidiary Minera Chinalco Perú S.A operates the Toromocho mine in the Morococha mining district. State-owned Chinalco is the largest shareholder of CMCI.