Fresnillo suffers as silver fails to shine

Mexico-focused precious metals miner, Fresnillo, has been hit by the falling price of silver and reduced ore quality, leading to a significant fall in first half profits.

Total revenues for the six months to the end of June were $1.09bn, 2.7% up on the same point last year, but that's where the good news ends for the world's largest silver producer.

Profits before tax for the period came in at $603.3m, down 22.3% on 2011.

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One of the main reasons for the fall has been the price of silver which decreased by 13.3% from $35.74 per ounce in the first half of 2011 to US$30.97 per ounce in the same period of 2012.

Fresnillo also produced 6.5% less silver over the period as the ore quality at its main mine decreased.

There was a better picture on gold. The average realised gold price increased by 12.5% over the first half of 2011 to $1,645.50 per ounce but this wasn't enough to counteract the difficult silver market.

The firm was also hit by production costs rising by 37.3% over the first half of 2011.

BS