(This story was updated March 26)
On a global scale, work is grinding to a halt and operations at mines are being temporarily suspended as majors and minors move to enact measures to protect against the spread of covid-19.
With governments from Africa to Latin America issuing lockdown orders, disruptions to operations and supply chains are affecting the outlook for industrial and precious metals. Most of the majors have now announced halts at gold-copper operations.
- On March 26, Japan鈥檚 Sumitomo Corp. became the latest major diversified miner to temporarily suspend operations at some of its mines to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. The measure affects the company鈥檚 San Cristobal silver-zinc-lead mine in Bolivia and Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar, as curfews have been imposed in those countries.
- On March 26, Trevali Mining (TSX:TV) temporarily聽stopped production at its Caribou zinc-lead-silver mine聽in Canada鈥檚 New Brunswick province as challenges presented by the spread of covid-19 have added to woes posed by weak conditions in the zinc market.
- Glencore on Thursday March 26 halted a number of smaller mines due to government restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus but added its larger operations were not materially impacted.
- After announcing a temporary suspension of operations until at least March 31 at its 49%-owned San Jos茅 mine in Argentina late last week, on March 26, McEwen Mining聽reported it will also be suspending production at its Black Fox mine in Ontario and Gold Bar in Nevada.
- On Wednesday, March 25 Codelco, the world鈥檚 largest copper miner, said it will temporarily suspend construction on some projects. Codelco said the 15-day suspension applied to remaining work being carried out to make Chuquicamata an underground mine, and projects at an early stage at Rajo Inca and Traspaso Andina.
- Sibanye-Stillwater announced聽on Wednesday that it has begun implementing measures to place its South African gold and PGM operations under temporary care and maintenance, in accordance with the nation-wide聽lockdown聽for 21 days, effective midnight on Thursday.
- Miners in Ecuador are now temporarily halting all activity in the country, following the government鈥檚 call to stay home.
- In response to the country鈥檚聽lockdown effort聽to slow the spread of covid-19, AngloGold Ashanti announced Tuesday it will temporarily suspend production from its South Africa operations for three weeks as of midnight on March 26.
- OceanaGold announced聽March 24 that the Waihi gold operation in the North Island of New Zealand will go on temporary care and maintenance for four weeks in response to measures put in place by the New Zealand government.
- On Tuesday, Yamana Gold (TSX:YRI, NYSE:AUY)聽聽that it will scale back operations at its Canadian Malartic mine, Canada鈥檚 largest gold mine.
- Rio Tinto鈥檚 Richards Bay Minerals in South Africa will halt production by midnight Thursday. The company will put furnaces on care and maintenance. Rio Tinto will also slow activities at aluminum assets in Canada.
- Vale鈥檚 Voisey鈥檚 Bay mine in Canada will be on care and maintenance for four weeks, copper-concentrate production at Long Harbour will be reduced proportionally to the period of the stoppage.
- Egypt-focused gold miner聽Centamin聽said on Wednesday聽that operations at its Sukari gold mine remained unaffected by covid-19, adding it had stockpiled enough critical supplies to last until the end of June.
Last week, producers across South America, where the bulk of the world鈥檚 copper is produced, halted or cut back operations and slowed construction.
- Hong Kong-listed MMG said last Thursday that operations at its Las Bambas mine, with expected production in the 360kt range for this year had been聽reduced temporarily聽after Peru declared a state of emergency on March 16. 聽
- Anglo American said it聽will slow the building聽of its $5 billion Quellaveco project in Peru and on Thursday the miner said it is scaling down operations at its聽Los Bronces聽copper mine in Chile. The company will also聽reschedule聽work at mines in countries such as Chile.
- Teck Resources聽said聽on Wednesday it is temporarily suspending construction activities at its Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) copper project in Chile. The project is expected to have an initial mine life of 28 years, producing 316,000 tonnes of copper equivalent annually.
- The world鈥檚 no 2 copper producer, Chile鈥檚 state-owned Codelco,聽said聽on Wednesday it planned to reduce its operations but sales, shipments of copper are聽not yet hit聽by coronavirus.
- BHP said on March 19 that so far the pandemic聽has not affected聽its material operations,聽a day after Reuters reports聽unionized workers at the Escondida mine in Chile operated by BHP requested a halt to operations unless management begins to implement stricter health and safety measures. Escondida is the largest copper mine in the world by a wide measure and was projected to produce some 1.2 million tonnes this year.
- Freeport-McMoRan said March 17 that it is聽suspending operations聽at its 350kt per year Cerro Verde mine in Peru for at least 15 days.
- Antofagasta PLC聽said聽on Friday it would put parts of its Los Pelambres expansion project on care and maintenance as the Chilean miner reduced the number of staff to reduce risk of coronavirus infection. Los Pelambres had production of 357,800 tonnes in 2018.
- Glencore鈥檚 Mopani copper mines unit in Zambia聽said聽on Friday it would review all parts of its business due to the increasing economic uncertainty.