- Santacruz Silver (SCZ) has revealed the extent of its 2020 June quarter silver mining work in Mexico
- Santacruz Silver operates three silver mines, the Zimapan, Rosario and Veta Grande mine, which produced 709,765 silver equivalent ounces for the quarter
- This is an admirable result and a 105 per cent increase on last year’s corresponding period
- Due to COVID-19, the Zimapan and Veta Grande mines had production suspensions during the quarter, which hindered production
- Santacruz Silver (SCZ) is up 6.6 per cent and is trading at C$0.32 per share
Santacruz Silver (SCZ) has more than doubled its latest qaurterly production, despite COVID-19 related shutdowns at some of its operations.
The company posted a production total of 709,765 silver equivalent ounces for the quarter, a 105 per cent increase on its second quarter of last year.
The company currently operates three silver mines, the Zimapan Mine, the Rosario Mine and the Veta Grande Mine. The large improvement has come largely on the back of the Zimapan Mine, an asset that Santacruz did not acquire until July 1 last year.
Santacruz production was impacted somewhat due the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced a temporary shutdown of the Zimapan Mine.
Production was suspended at the mine for 42 days, while 40 per cent of the workforce was let go from the Rosario Mine.
At Rosario, the underground mine could not adequately control social distancing measures putting its workforce at risk, resulting in majority of staff levels being cut during the quarter.
Carlos Silva, the CEO of Santacruz said that heading into the quarter, the company’s focus was on increasing production at Rosario and Zimapan to offset suspensions in production at Veta Grande.
“However, with the onset of COVID-19 our focus shifted to health and wellbeing of our employees and we suspended mine and milling operations during the second quarter in accordance with Mexican Government guidance.
“During this operational downtime, we made adjustments in all areas, including milling and underground, which are helping improve our tonnage throughput at both mines as operations resumed,” he said.
Santacruz Silver (SCZ) is up 6.6 per cent and is trading at $0.32 per share at 10:30 am EDT.