TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – LSE- and Mexican Stock Exchange-listed silver miner Fresnillo has disclosed payments made to governments in 2015, as required under the UK Reports on Payments to Governments Regulation.
The London-based company said it had paid a net amount of $18.4-million to the Mexican government, where it operated six mines and owned four advanced exploration prospects.
The miner also disclosed a payment of $1.4-million to Peruvian authorities for licences and concession fees. It held exploration interests in the country.
Under UK transparency directives, oil, gas, mining and logging companies are required to publicly disclose the payments they make to governments to extract natural resources. The directives are modelled on Section 1504 of the US Dodd-Frank Act, which requires companies to disclose payments at the country and project level.
Fresnillo is the world's largest primary silver producer and Mexico's second-largest gold producer. The company expects to grow yearly output to 65-million ounces of silver and 750 000 oz of gold by 2018.