Amerigo Resources (ARG:TSX)
The company reported record annual production from Minera Valle Central (“MVC”) operation located near Rancagua, Chile. MVC produced 56.8 million lbs of copper in 2016 at a cash cost of $1.73/lb. Good performance from the Cauquenes deposit resulted in the record copper production within the original guidance.
Q4 2016 production was 13.6m lbs of copper at a cash cost of $1.87/lb. Production was affected by a labour strike in October which resulted in 10 days of lost production and 6 days in December 2016. Unit cash costs at El Teniente were negatively affected by lower production, due to an early annual planned maintenance shutdown.
Production for 2017 is expected to be 60 – 65m lbs of copper, at an annual cash cost of $1.60 – $1.75/lb. MVC also expects to produce 1.5m lbs of molybdenum. Amerigo is advancing financing discussions for the $30m expansion of the Cauquenes project, in order to increase production to 87m lbs of copper per year, at an estimated cash cost of $1.40 per pound.
Annual financial results will be released on Wednesday February 22, 2017.