Grupo Mexico announced its mining division increased production by 39% during the Q2 due to the restart of operations at Buenavista del Cobre as well as better metals prices.

Meanwhile, the company asserted that a windfall tax is already in place in Peru. During the Q2, Buenavista reached its full capacity and produced 45,558 tonnes of copper 15,170 tonnes of copper cathodes and 30,417 tonnes of copper concentrate. Overall mined copper production increased 15.3% to 192,415 tons during the Q2 of this year compared to 166,894 tonnes in 2Q10.

For the first 6 months of this year, overall copper production increased 10.4% from 325,746 tonnes in H1 2010 to 359,505 tonnes.

Molybdenum dropped 18% during the Q2 of the year to 4,502 tonnes compared to 5,510 tonnes reported during the same period of last year. The decrease was attributed to lower ores grades at mines in Peru and lower recoveries at Toquepala.

For the H1 of 2011 moly production dropped 14.5% from 10,264 tonnes in H1 2010 to 8,775 tonnes.

Refined silver production decreased 15% in the Q2 2011 to 3.879 million ounces down from 4.557 million ounces in 2Q10. This decrease was mainly due to less material processed at our Refinery Amarillo, no production at the Santa Eulalia mine and also lowers grades at Cuajone.

For the H1 of this year, silver production dropped 16.6% from 9,178,000 ounces to 7,658,000 ounces.

Zinc production declined 16% in 2Q11 to 21,366 tonnes down from 25,426 tonnes in Q2 2010. The decrease was due mainly to no production at the Santa Eulalia mine, as well as lower grades and recoveries at Charcas and Santa Barbara. Operations at Santa Eulalia are expected to resume in November.

For the H1 of 2011, zinc production was reported at 41,361 tonnes, 20.8% decline from the 52,250 tonnes of zinc production reported during the same period of last year.

Grupo reported ore reserves at Asarco's Silver bell property in Arizona increased by 24 million tonnes, equivalent to 148 million pounds of copper which represents 2 more years of cathode production. Meanwhile, pre feasibility studies for a project to restart a molybdenum circuit at the Mission mine are expected to be completed during the Q3.

Grupo reported net income for the Americas Mining Corporation the parent company of Asarco and Southern Copper Corporation was USD 627.7 million for the Q2 up from USD 326 million reported during the Q2 2010. For the first 6 months of this year, Americas Mining reported a net income of USD 1.12 billion up substantially from the USD 608.7 million reported during the first 6 months of last year.

(Sourced from www.mineweb.com)