Americas Gold & Silver FY23 Silver Output Falls Short of Forecast — Commodity Comment

By Adriano Marchese

Americas Gold & Silver’s full-year silver production was below the company’s expectations, even as fourth-quarter output rose 53%.
On production:

Consolidated attributable silver production totaled about 2.04 million ounces last year, up from 1.31 million ounces in 2022. Americas Gold & Silver had said in October that it expected production to be at the lower end of its forecast of 2.2 million to 2.6 million ounces.
In the fourth quarter, consolidated attributable silver production rose to about 580,000 ounces, from 380,000 ounces a year ago and 390,000 ounces in the third quarter.
“Silver production in the quarter was up almost 64% benefiting from higher-grade silver areas in the Upper Zone of the San Rafael mine and stockpiled production from Zone 120 deposit,” Americas Gold & Silver said.
“The increase in production was driven by the successful mining of high-grade silver-copper stopes.”
Zinc production fell 13% in 2023 to 34.1 million pounds, and lead output fell 17% to 20.5 million pounds.
On its outlook:
“Not only is attributable silver production expected to grow significantly again in 2024, but the Galena Complex exploration program continues to generate impressive results which the Company is confident will yield near term mining targets,” President and CEO Darren Blasutti said.
Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com