Atacocha
Mine
Zinc, Lead, Silver and Gold
Type
Open Pit and Underground Mine
Plant Capacity
1.6 Mtpy
Ownership
81.78% (1)
Location
Peru
¹The ownership percentage is attributable to Nexa Resources.
Atacocha is a polymetallic underground and open pit mine (located in the Cerro Paso Complex) in the district of San Francisco de Asís de Yarusyacán, in the province of Pasco, Peru. The property is located at approximate coordinates of 367160m E, 8,830,400m N, using the UTM WGS84 datum, Z18S and approximately 4,050 meters above sea level.
Operations began in 1938 and, in 2025, the Atacocha mine produced approximately 11.9 thousand tonnes of zinc contained in concentrates, 13.7 thousand tonnes of lead contained in concentrates, 1,176.1 thousand ounces of silver contained in concentrates and 10.2 thousand ounces of gold contained in concentrates. The ore is treated at a concentrate plant that has a processing capacity of 1.6 million tonnes of ore per year.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treated ore | kt | 1,453 | 1,512 | 1,394 |
| Grade | ||||
| Zinc | % | 1.00 | 0.90 | 0.77 |
| Copper | % | 0.02 | 0.02 | – |
| Lead | % | 1.09 | 0.95 | 0.93 |
| Silver | oz/t | 0.97 | 1.03 | 1.21 |
| Gold | oz/t | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Production | metal contained | ||||
| Zinc | kt | 11.9 | 10.4 | 8.2 |
| Copper | kt | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Lead | kt | 13.7 | 12.3 | 11.1 |
| Silver | MMoz | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Gold | koz | 10.2 | 9.1 | 7.6 |
| Cash Cost, net of by-product credits | US$/t | (4,167.5) | (1,431.2) | (959.7) |
| Cash Cost, net of by-product credits | US$/lb | (1.89) | (0.65) | (0.44) |
| CAPEX | US$ mm | 15.7 | 13.1 | 16.2 |
The Atacocha deposit contains skarn, replacement, or hydrothermal vein/breccia type of mineralization. Skarn mineralization, generally associated with the Santa Bárbara stock or San Gerardo stock, formed first, and was followed by the hydrothermal mineralization. Skarn zones developed within the Pucara Group sediments around the Santa Bárbara stock are associated with Zn, Pb, Ag, and Bi. Replacement mineralization, together with hydrothermal veins and polymictic breccias containing Ag, Pb, Zn mineral assemblages, occurs between the San Gerardo stock and Fault 1.
In 2025, we spent approximately US$0.3 million on the Atacocha brownfield program for exploration maintenance. We have budgeted US$0.3 million for maintenance in 2026.
