Sierra Metals: Solid Q2 Production Results Despite the Impact of COVID-19

On July 15th Sierra Metals (NYSE:SMTS, TSX:SMT) announced their second quarter 2020 production results, which featured strong operational performance at its Bolivar Mine.

Despite the serious headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic the company’s production was down only -10% on a copper equivalent basis at 22.7 million pounds produced. An exceptional result and a strong indicator of the company’s ability to bounce back operationally.

The quarterly throughput from the Yaurichocha and Bolivar Mines were both negatively impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns announced by the Peruvian and Mexican Governments. These government restrictions were relaxed in June, since that time the company has recalled its employees and has started ramping up to full capacity.

Q2-2020 Production Highlights:

• Copper equivalent production of 22.7 million pounds (-10% y/y)
• Copper production of 9.7 million pounds (flat y/y)
• Gold production of 2,762 ounces (+9% y/y)
• Silver production of 0.6 million ounces (-32% y/y)
• Zinc production of 13.7 million pounds (-17% y/y)
• Lead production of 6.4 million pounds (-21% y/y)

Production Throughput Highlights: 

• Yauricocha Mine, Peru: Processed 202K tonnes, a decrease of 20% from the previous year.  The decline was due to the government imposed COVID-19 state of emergency, which was in force until June 4th, 2020. The company is currently ramping up it’s operations, for the month June production was 2,600 tpd (12% higher than the production of Q2).
• Bolivar Mine, Mexico: Processed 309K tonnes, a decrease of only 5% from the previous year despite the COVID-19 related shutdown – this was due to the increased plant capacity as a result of the expansion completed in 2019.
• Cusi Mine, Mexico: The Cusi Mine remained in care and maintenance in the 2Q.  In June the company had confirmed that it had discovered a new high-grade silver zone, a game changer for the Cusi Mine. This newly discovered silver vein system suggests potential for reinterpretation of the geology and extensions of previously understood areas of mineralization.

Sierra Metals is a market awareness client of Capital 10X.