Nexa Resources has lowered its guidance for Zinc to 300,000 – 335,000mt, down by 11pc from its previous guidance for 2020. The new guidance considers no further suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has adjusted smelting sales down by 10pc to 540,000-580,000mt from their previous guidance.
The Luxembourg-headquartered miner said mining and smelting operations in Brazil were not affected by the pandemic but operations at Peruvian mines were suspended from March 15, which could impact consolidated production in 2020. In Peru, two mines restarted operations and will be in the ramp-up phase until June. The company also cut its capital expenditure by 27pc in response to the pandemic.
In Q1, Nexa Resources’ zinc production was down 14pc to 77,000mt from the prior year and down 7pc from the prior quarter (Q4). Copper production in Q1 was 7,000mt down by 22pc from the prior year and 30pc lower than the previous quarter. Lead production declined by 40pc to 9,000mt from the prior-year quarter and 25pc from Q4.
Nexa Resources’ net revenues stood at $442mn in Q1 down by 22pc from the prior-year quarter, while net loss widened to $612mn from a net loss of $8mn in Q1 2019.
| Nexa Resources Q1 production | |||||
| Production (mt) | Q1 2020 | Q1 2019 | Change YoY | Q4 2019 | Change QoQ |
| Zinc | 77,000 | 90,000 | -14pc | 83,000 | -7pc |
| Copper | 7,000 | 9,000 | -22pc | 10,000 | -30pc |
| Lead | 9,000 | 15,000 | -40pc | 12,000 | -25pc |
Nexa Resources’ net revenues stood at $442mn in Q1 down by 22pc from the prior year quarter, while net loss widened to $612mn from a net loss of $8mn in Q1 2019.