El Porvenir

El Porvenir

Mine

Zinc, Copper, Lead, Silver and Gold

Type

Underground Mine

Plant Capacity

6.5 ktpd

Ownership

83.48% (1)

Location

Peru

¹The ownership percentage is attributable to Nexa Resources.

Location

The El Porvenir mine is an underground polymetallic mine, wholly owned by Nexa Resources El Porvenir S.A.C, located in the central Andes mountains region of Peru, specifically in the district of San Francisco de Asís de Yarusyacán, in the province of Pasco, Peru. The mine is situated at kilometer 340 of the Carretera Central Highway (Lima—Huánuco route), 13 km from the city of Cerro de Pasco. The mine is located in the Central Cordillera zone, which contains the communities of Parán, Lacsanga and Santo Domingo de Apache.

Overview

Operations began in 1949 and, in 2022, the El Porvenir mine produced approximately 51.6 thousand tonnes of zinc contained in concentrates, 0.3 thousand tonnes of copper contained in concentrates, 23.2 thousand tonnes of lead contained in concentrates, 4,195.6 thousand ounces of silver contained in concentrates and 9.2 thousand ounces of gold contained in concentrates. The ore is treated at a concentrate plant that has a processing capacity of 6.5 thousand tonnes of ore per day.

 

2022 2021 2020
Treated ore kt 2,112 2,078 1,503
Grade
Zinc % 2.80 2.83 2.65
Copper % 0.16 0.19 0.17
Lead % 1.34 1.08 0.93
Silver oz/t 2.46 2.10 2.00
Gold oz/t 0.01 0.01 0.01
Production | metal contained
Zinc kt 51.6 51.4 34.9
Copper kt 0.3 0.5 0.3
Lead kt 23.2 17.7 10.9
Silver MMoz 4.2 3.5 2.3
Gold oz 9.2 8.7 5.9
Cash Cost, net of by-product credits US$/t 727.7 832.2 1,338.0
Cash Cost, net of by-product credits US$/lb 0.33 0.38 0.61
CAPEX US$ mm  36.7 36.5 12.9
Geology and Exploration

The El Porvenir mine is a typical skarn deposit. The mineralization occurs within the contact of the upper Triassic limestone (i.e., exoskarn) and the granodioritic dacitic intrusive rocks (i.e., endoskarn). There are also recognized veins and replacement manto type, minor disseminated mineralization may occur within the intrusive units. West of the Milpo Atacocha fault within the Goyllarisquizga Group, mineralization is characterized as veins and disseminations. Four groups of vein/mineralized structures are reported. Structurally controlled veins are sub vertical up to 150 meters long, with a vertical extent of 350 meters. Economic mineralogy is mostly comprised of galena, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite, as well as variable and lesser pyrite, quartz and rhodochrosite.

Throughout 2022, the exploration program at El Porvenir was focused on drilling in mineralized zones in the Integration, Porvenir Sur, and Carmen Norte targets, seeking to evaluate the lateral continuity of the mineralization of these exploratory targets, with the goal of extending the life of mine. In 2022, we drilled 31 drill holes totaling 16.7 km of exploration drilling, which confirmed extensions in both targets, with emphasis on the Integration zone. We continue to focus our efforts on expanding mineralized zones in the integration area, with the potential to extend existing Mineral Resources.