Speaker’s from some of the country’s leading mining companies presented at BNamericas Mexico Mining Summit in Mexico City (May 22-23) and outlined projects that will greatly increase Mexico’s mining output. BNamericas reports that the projects, owned by major producers such as Grupo México subsidiary Southern Copper (SCC), Mexico City-based Fresnillo and US-based Coeur Mining, along with development company Chesapeake Gold, should generate an additional 63 Moz of silver, 898,0000 oz of gold and 318,400  copper annually once in production.

SCC’s pipeline of projects is expected to produce an additional 318,400 t copper, 5.27 Moz silver and 21,000 oz gold annually by 2018, Vidal Muhech, Vice President of projects, said. Projects include the $1.38 billion concentrator with a molybdenum circuit, which is expected to produce 188,000 t copper, and the $174.7 million Angangueo polymetallic mining project in Michoacán state. These projects will also produce zinc, molybdenum and lead.

In addition, SCC is in the process of a $2.8 billion investment program at its Buenavista copper mine in Sonora state, which will see production increase from 180,000 t to 488,000 t by 2015, the company said previously.

Fresnillo plans to increase annual production to 65 Moz/y silver by 2018 from 41 Moz in 2012, CEO Octavio Alvídrez told the summit, with the growth planned from a number of projects including San Julián on the Durango/Chihuahua border, the Saucito II silver-gold expansion project in Durango and the Herradura dynamic leaching plant in Sonora state. The company also plans to increase gold production to 500,000 oz/y from 473,034 oz in 2012.

Coeur Mining’s La Preciosa silver-gold project in Durango state is set to produce up to 9 Moz/y of silver and 10,000 oz of gold, with initial production expected in 2H18, Joe Phillips, Senior Vice President and Development Director explained.

Chesapeake’s Metates project, also in Durango state, will be one of the world’s biggest gold and silver mines once built, President Randy Reifel said, annually producing 845,000 oz gold and 25 Moz silver, along with 150 Mlb zinc. The company expects the $4.3 billion project to begin production in 2018.

Mexico produced 162.2 Moz of silver in 2012, according to the Silver Institute, making it the world’s largest producer. Gold output reached 2.8 Moz last year, according to figures from the US Geological Survey, while Mexican copper production was an estimated 500,000 t.