Fortuna Silver Mines Inc (NYSE: FSM) recently announced its production results for the three mines it operates in the Americas; Argentina’s Lindero Mine, Peru’s Caylloma Mine, and Mexico’s San Jose Mine. Fortuna managed to produce 55,953 gold equivalent ounces (31,048 gold ounces) and 1,892,822 silver ounces. Fortuna is also offering updated cost and production guidance statements for this year. These statements will include the gold production results recorded in Q2 F21 in Burkina Faso’s Yaramoko Mine.
Lindero Mine (Argentina)
In Q2 F21, Argentina experienced a Covid-19 surge with a peak infection rate of about 41,000 cases per/day. In addition, coronavirus-based travel restrictions and regulations continued to limit the access of foreign vendor support onsite. This surge significantly impacted operational performance as a large portion of the person tested positive for Covid. This represented around 18% of the entire workforce. During this period, Fortuna voluntarily placed a 16-day suspension of onsite operations.
In Q2 F21, the gold produced in this mine was around 19,521 ounces. The gold-in-carbon measurements were 794 ounces. The ore that was mined came to 1,817,000 tonnes in total in the same quarter.
San Jose Mine (Mexico)
This mine produced about 10,266 gold ounces and 1,624,394 silver ounces in Q2 F21. The average head grades for both the gold and silver productions were 1.30 g/t and 205 g/t, respectively. This was 4% in-line and above the plan.
Caylloma Mine (Peru)
In Q2 F21, this mine produced about 268,428 silver ounces, with a 76 g/t average head grade. The gold produces around 1,261 ounces, which represented a 183% increase from Q2 F21. This mine continues to exceed the plan in terms of gold production, with average grades achieved in this quarter expected to remain the same throughout the year. The geology team assigned to this mine has confirmed that this high-grade zone will continue to prosper.
Zinc and lead production in Q2 F21 was 11,763,866 and 8,143,876 pounds, respectively, with 4.58% and 3.09% average head grades.
