Fresnillo PLC on Wednesday said performance during the opening quarter of 2024 was in line with expectations.

The Mexican-based precious metals miner increased silver production in the first quarter by 2.7% to 13.5 million ounces from 13.2 million ounces last year.

‘Silver production was slightly up over the same quarter last year, driven by the contribution of Juanicipio, higher grades at San Julian Veins and a stronger performance at Saucito,’ said Chief Executive Officer Octavio Alvidrez.

Meanwhile, there was an 18% decline in gold production to 140,847 ounces from 173,034 ounces.

Alvidrez explained: ‘Gold production was slightly lower as expected, due mainly to the lower output from the Noche Buena mine as it approaches its end of life and the lower grade at Herradura in line with the mine plan.’

In 2023, Fresnillo produced a total of 56.3 million oz of silver and 610,646 oz of gold.

Outlook for the year remains unchanged with silver production forecasted to be in the range of 55.0 to 62.0 million oz, whilst between 580,000 to 630,000 ounces of gold is expected.

Fresnillo shares were down 1.0% to 573.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

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