Fresnillo 2Q Silver Output At 9.62M Oz, Up 0.3% On Year

14th Jul 2010 07:20

By Alex MacDonald Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Mexican precious metals miner Fresnillo PLC (FRES.LN) Wednesday reported a 0.3% rise in second quarter silver production and said its Soledad-Dipolos mine continues to ramp up gold output. London-listed Fresnillo, the world's biggest primary silver producer, reported production of 9.62 million troy ounces of attributable silver for the three months to June 30, compared to 9.59 million ounces during the same period a year earlier. Gold output increased 33.9% to a record 91,254 ounces compared to the same period a year ago, the company said. "We have accomplished another quarter of stable silver production and promising exploration results. Quarterly gold production has reached a new record level once again, thanks to the efficient ramping-up of production at Soledad-Dipolos," Jaime Lomelin, the company's Chief Executive officer said in a statement. Fresnillo said it is "well on track" to achieve full year production targets of about 38 million ounces of silver and about 340,000 ounces of attributable gold in 2010 due to the contribution of Soledad-Dipolos. Fresnillo produced 37.92 million ounces of silver and 277,000 ounces of attributable gold output in 2009. Fresnillo is majority-owned by Mexico's Industrias Penoles (PE&OLES.MX), which spun off its precious metals holdings in a May 2008 initial public offering. The company's shares closed at 1097 pence Tuesday, up 2.3% on the day and up 39% from 792 pence at the start of the year. Company Web site: www.fresnilloplc.com -By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9328; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 14, 2010 02:20 ET (06:20 GMT)