MinerAndina reports that Funsur, the country’s sole tin smelter and refinery, owned by the – likewise – sole local tin producer, Minsur, has temporarily suspended operations following the earthquake on August 15 across the shores of Pisco, 200 km south of Lima. In addition, Aceros Arequipa, also located in the Province of Pisco, stopped operations for two days due to the failure of the electricity supply.

MinerAndina also reports the recently commissioned Cerro Lindo copper-zinc-lead mine, part of the Milpo mining group, situated in the Province of Chincha, halted its operations for two days, due to blocked roads and the lack of electricity. Last Friday, the company announced the restart of its operations.

Shougang Hierro Peru, an affiliate of China’s Shougang Group, operator of the Marcona iron ore mine, located in the Province of Nazca, south of Pisco, reported that its operations are going as usual at the mine and plant, “in spite of having suffered a slight power cut”.

Other operations near the area directly affected by the quake, such as the Antapite mines, belonging to Cía. de Minas Buenaventura, and Doe Run Peru’s Cobriza, located in Huancavelica department, were operating as usual.

Exploration projects such as Chariot Resources’ Mina Justa, situated in San Juan de Marcona (Nazca), and the Pinaya gold-copper project, undertaken by Acero-Martin, located in Arequipa, were not affected. Canadian company Century Mining, operating the San Juan gold mine, also in Arequipa, did not report any damage to its facilities either.

Compañía de Minas Buenaventura also made it clear that the rest of its operations, including gold company Yanacocha, located in Cajamarca, had not suffered any damages. The same was the case of Barrick Gold with respect to its Pierina mine (Ancash) and Lagunas Norte mine (La Libertad). Pan American Silver announced that none of its mines had been significantly affected by the quake. Geoff Burns, Chairman and CEO, noted that as a matter of precaution, it was decided to temporarily suspend underground operations at Huarón and Morococha in order to verify the condition of rock structures and to make sure that safety conditions were adequate.

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