Peru mines halted operations in mines due to government restrictions on coronavirus
Neighboring Chile is awaiting coronavirus epidemic consequences.
Pan American Silver company temporarily suspended operations in four mines due to 15-day government’s state of emergency quarantine. The government decided to impose quarantine as a reaction to 70 cases of infected by coronavirus in the country.
Peru’s Ministry of energy and mines stated there might be exceptions for miners to perform activities necessary for the suspension. Miners are allowed to further deliver extracted material to its customers, which disables supply chain disruption.
Neighboring Chile similarly proceeded to some restrictions as number of infected people approached 200. The government decided to close down schools and public gathering of more people are prohibited. Chile’s mining industry has not been affected by the measures yet.
However, the fluency of lithium supply from China has been disturbed due to coronavirus. As China’s demand for lithium dropped, Chile now supplies 2,000 tons less than prior agreed. Some Chilean miners have reduced their investments.
