Operator: Newmont Corporation
Location: Zacatecas, Mexico
Royalty: 2.0% NSR (gold, silver, lead and zinc)
Term of Royalty: Life of Mine
Peñasquito is an open-pit mine composed of two main deposits: Peñasco and Chile Colorado. It hosts one of the world’s largest gold, silver, and zinc reserves, while also containing large lead reserves. Peñasquito is operated by Minera Peñasquito S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Newmont Corporation, and is situated in the western half of the Concepción Del Oro district in the northeast corner of Zacatecas State, Mexico.
Deposits within the Peñasquito operations are breccia pipe deposits developed as a result of intrusion-related hydrothermal activity.
Open-pit mining commenced in 2010 and full production commenced in 2011. Open-pit mining is undertaken using a conventional truck-and-shovel fleet. Peñasquito has a designed processing capacity of 130,000 tonnes per day, consisting of two 50,000 tonne per day capacity sulfide processing lines and a 30,000 tonne per day capacity high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) circuit. Sulfide ore is processed using a conventional crushing, milling and flotation facility to produce zinc and lead concentrates. In late 2018, a pyrite leach circuit was added to increase gold and silver recoveries and reduce the amount of metal that would otherwise report to tailings as waste.
Royal Gold owns a 2.0% net smelter return royalty on all metals at the Peñasquito mine. Royal Gold acquired the Peñasquito royalty in January 2007 from Minera Kennecott S.A. de C.V. for $100 million, consisting of $80 million in cash and 577,434 shares of Royal Gold common stock.
* Detailed information on our interest can be found on the Portfolio Asset Summary table