KGHM Polska Miedź S.A, the world’s runner-up in silver production, has a chance to move into first place. Silver production at the company’s mines rose to 1,100 tonnes.

Lubin-based KGHM produced as much as 1,099 tonnes of metallic silver from copper ore during the nine months of this year, the company reports. This is an 8% increase year-on-year. The company declares its intention to remain in the world’s top three by 2030 with production of 1,200 tonnes a year.

The world leader, Mexico’s Fresnillo, produced 20 % more than KGHM in 2022. With such dynamics and possible Mexican declines, there is a chance to race even for the leadership.

In the era of investments in green energy and electric vehicles, silver is one of the key raw materials. This can be seen from the prices of this precious metal. The average price of silver was 23% higher than the average for the third quarter of last year. KGHM received an average of USD 23.57 per ounce, compared with USD 19.23 the year before.

“Despite the adverse macroeconomic factors affecting our business, we achieved stable financial and production results. We are very satisfied with our production results, as we have increases in all major categories in this area after nine months”, said KGHM CEO Tomasz Zdzikot, commenting on the group’s results after nine months of 2023.

KGHM, a strategic company and one of the largest Polish state-owned companies, has production facilities on three continents – in Europe, North and South America. KGHM’s controlled copper ore reserves are 40 million tonnes.

For next year, KGHM is planning an increase in copper production in Poland, but also in Canada once the right ore is reached. Management board vice-president for foreign assets Mirosław Kidoń stressed that this year, capital expenditures in the group amount to PLN 3.25 billion. He added that the replacement of the machinery fleet would be a ‘record’ this year, with 180 mining machines purchased for the three plants.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński