Sierra Metals to invest up to US$49mn in Peru and Mexico

Canada’s Sierra Metals will invest up to US$49mn in its Yauricocha and Bolivar operations, in Peru and Mexico, respectively, in 2024.

Both mines are focused on copper, with US$14.4-17.9mn earmarked for Yauricocha in Lima region and US$24.8-31.1mn for Bolivar in Mexico’s Chihuahua state.

Of the total for Yauricocha, operated by subsidiary Sociedad Minera Corona, US$12.5-15.6mn will be for sustaining operations and US$1.9-2.3mn are growth investments.

At Bolivar, US$17.4-21.8mn are for sustaining operations and US$7.4-9.3mn for growth, according to the latest results report, which can be downloaded via the Documents box in the upper-right corner.

Bolivar will get US$8.9mn in sustaining capital and Yauricocha US$5.8mn, mainly for deposit development and optimization but also drilling work and machinery replacement. Growth capex will also be allocated to the Bolivar tailings dam.

“Looking ahead, we see 2024 as a year to consolidate the optimization efforts that started in 2023 and to establish the platform for growth. [A]t Yauricocha, we will be focused on developing the mine below [1120]. At Bolivar, we will continue our project to expand our tailings facilities to have them up and running within three years. That expansion should increase [throughput] by 50% to 7,500t/d from current rates,” CEO Ernesto Balarezo told the results call.

According to the presentation, Sierra Metals produced 40.3Mlb (18,287t) of copper in 2023, 43.6Mlb zinc, 1.84Moz silver, 16,461oz gold and 13.3Mlb lead.

LEVEL 1120

In February, Sierra Metals announced that it obtained permission to operate at depths below 1,120m at its Yauricocha mine, a key step to increase production and extend mine life.

Start-up will take up to nine months and bulk extraction will be carried out with methods that will reduce costs and increase performance. Production capacity will improve by 40% to 3,600t/d by the end of 2024, according to the presentation.

“The total investment for this operation is US$4-5mn,” added Balarezo.

2024

Sierra Metals projects overall copper production of 37.5-43.3Mlb, 27.6Mlb coming from Bolivar and the balance from Yauricocha.

Zinc is produced only at Yauricocha, with guidance of 38.6-44.5Mlb.

Silver production is projected to be in the 1.50-1.75Moz range, gold 10,100-11,600oz and lead, also produced only at Yauricocha, 10.2-11.8Mlb.