Atacocha

Atacocha is a polymetallic underground and open pit polymetallic mine, wholly owned by Nexa Resources Atacocha S.A.A. (formerly Compañía Minera Atacocha), located in the district of San Francisco de Asís de Yarusyacán, in the province of Pasco, Peru.

Operations began in 1938 and, in 2021, the Atacocha mine produced approximately 8.5 thousand tonnes of zinc contained in concentrates, 8.7 thousand tonnes of lead contained in concentrates, 1,026.8 thousand ounces of silver contained in concentrates and 11.9 thousand ounces of gold contained in concentrates. The ore is treated at a concentrate plant that has a processing capacity of 4.3 thousand tonnes of ore per day. In 2020, in response to COVID-19 and the uncertain macroeconomic scenario and our efforts to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency, we decided to not resume the higher-cost Atacocha underground mine after the mandatory temporary suspension of our operations in Peru and placed it under care and maintenance, which it remains to date.

In 2021, we completed approximately 13.3 km of diamond drilling, divided between exploratory (3.1 km) and infill (10.2 km) drilling. The 2021 exploration program at Atacocha was focused on increasing mineral near of San Gerardo open pit in two targets: Extension NW and Ayarragram based on the surface drilling program. The drilling program identified zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold mineralization, which is open for expansion.

The exploration drilling works focused mainly on extending existing mineralized bodies along strike at the San Gerardo pit and testing the potential extension at the surface of know orebodies at the Atacocha underground mine including the Ayarragram orebody.