TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Several miners reported production results this week ahead of publishing financial results for the three months ended March 31.

NYSE- and TSX-listed McEwen Mining reported 23% increased gold output to 24 696 oz and a decline in silver production of 10% to 655 339 oz in the period when compared with the same period a year earlier. The miner said its gold and silver recoveries were artificially low as a result of recent gold theft and were expected to return to normal in the current quarter.

McEwen expected to produce 96 500 oz of gold and 3.1-million silver ounces from its El Gallo 1 mine, in Mexico, and higher grades at its 49%-owned San José mine, in Argentina, this year.

Tailings reprocessor Amerigo Resources reported that subsidiary Minera Valle Central (MVC) produced 8.87-million pounds of copper, including copper produced under MVC's tolling contract with Minera Maricunga, and 98 000 lbs of molybdenum during the quarter.

For 2015, Amerigo expected MVC to produce 50-million pounds to 55-million pounds of copper, at an annualised cash cost between $1.80/lb and $2/lb of copper.

Base metals producer Capstone Mining reported copper output of 23 700 t from its three operating mines, with additional by-products of zinc, molybdenum, lead, silver and gold.

Combined payable copper shipment from all mines was 20 082 t.

Capstone expected to produce 90 000 t of copper in concentrates and cathode, at a C1 cash cost of between $2/lb and $2.10/lb of payable copper produced, net of by-product credits and selling costs.

British Columbia-focused Copper Mountain Mining produced 18.4-million pounds of copper, 7 800 oz of gold and 80 300 oz of silver. Copper output was down 4% year-over-year for the first quarter. This was the result of the new secondary crusher being forced to operate at reduced throughput rates as a result of another transformer failure in February on one of the ball mills and a ten-day disruption with the regrind mill in March.

Despite these interruptions, management said the mine was on schedule to meet its full-year copper production forecast of 80-million pounds at a total average cost of $2/lb net of precious metal credits.

Africa-focused gold miner B2Gold reported record quarterly consolidated gold output of 115 859 oz, including 18 815 oz of precommercial production from its new Otjikoto mine, in Namibia. This represented an improvement of 20% over the same period in 2014.

Argonaut Gold reported first-quarter output of 43 255 gold equivalent ounces (GEOs), which included 24 845 GEOs at its El Castillo mine, in Durango, Mexico, and 18 410 GEOs at its La Colorada mine, near Hermosillo, in Mexico.

The miner reaffirmed its full-year production forecast of between 135 000 oz and 145 000 oz.

Meanwhile, Dundee Precious Metals reported a 30.5% increase in first-quarter gold output at 347 000 oz, while copper output fell 7.4% to 8.7-million pounds. Zinc output fell 6.5% to 2-million pounds and silver produced totalled 159 000 oz, up 22% over the same period of 2014.

Dundee expected full-year output of between 130 000 oz and 150 000 oz of gold, 41.7-million ounces to 46.4-million ounces of copper, 8.8-million pounds to 11.8-million pounds of zinc and 575 000 oz to 720 000 oz of silver.

Base metals miner Trevali Mining also reported first-quarter output, producing about 12.5-million payable pounds of zinc, 7.4-million payable pounds of lead and 254 800 payable ounces of silver from the Santander mine, in Peru.

The mine was expected to produce between 48-million pounds and 50-million pounds of zinc in concentrate this year, as well as 23-million pounds to 25-million pounds of lead and 850 000 oz to 950 000 oz of silver. Cash costs for the year were estimated at $48/t to $51/t milled.

Ontario-based miner Timmins Gold reported preliminary production of 24 374 GEOs for the quarter.

The Mexico-focused company owned and operated the San Francisco openpit, heap leach gold mine, in Sonora, Mexico, which provided the company with a solid base of operations. This allowed it to develop two new projects, namely the recently acquired Caballo Blanco gold project as well as the Ana Paula gold mine, which the company was in the process of acquiring from Newstrike Capital.

Further, Klondex Mines reported that its first-quarter output at the Midas and Fire Creek project lifted recovered gold ounces by 103% to 32 542 GEOs, while sales jumped 639% to 31 703 GEOs. The company was on track to hit its 2015 target of 120 000 GEOs to 125 000 GEOs.

TSX-V-listed Metanor Resources produced 9 860 oz of gold during the quarter, down 22% year-on-year as a result of lower grades at its flagship Bachelor mine, which reached commercial production on December 1, 2013, and was located in the prolific Abitibi greenstone belt of Quebec.

Metanor expected to produce between 43 000 oz and 46 000 oz of gold in the current financial year ending June 30.