Analytics firm S&P Global Market Intelligence says at least 275 mining operations across the world have been disrupted as a result of Covid-19.

These operations span 36 countries, with only 36 mines having reopened to some degree so far. Four of these have had to re-close after new outbreaks at the respective mine sites, it points out.

As at June 25, the top three most impacted commodities were gold (111 mines), silver (101 mines) and copper (51 mines), with Latin America being the region that was the most impacted.

Peru, Chile and Mexico were the top three countries with the highest revenue at-risk globally, S&P Global Market Intelligence says, noting that the total revenue at-risk of impacted mining projects globally is estimated to exceed $8.8-billion.

Since the Covid-19 outbreak was first elevated to a public health emergency in China in January, and later to a global pandemic, S&P Global Market Intelligence has been monitoring and documenting worldwide mine closures, and says that since cases of Covid-19 continue to increase throughout the world, mining companies have sought to ramp up previously suspended operations.

Mining has been declared essential across Latin America, Canada, South Africa and most other areas owing to the economic reliance on the industry, with the firm noting that this reliance might explain the fact that there have been a number of reported cases that did not result in mine closures or an impact on production.

In April, there were reports of an outbreak at Norilsk's operations in northern Russia that did not result in mine closures, while Chile's National Copper Corp, or Codelco, has reported cases since mining was declared essential with no further closures to mine sites, although development activities have been halted for the time being.

Similarly, Vale has reported cases in Brazil that have not caused further disruptions.

Based on S&P Global Market Intelligence's original production estimates for 2020 and the reported duration of announced suspensions, the firm's analysts have identified at-risk production for a range of commodities.

At-risk production has not changed significantly since May, but silver's at-risk production has increased by under 0.3%, copper's by 0.45% and zinc's by under 0.3%.

While new regional flare-ups of the virus have not yet impacted the mining industry globally, should conditions worsen, the firm warns additional mine closures remain a possibility.

"For the time being, the supply-side story has mostly played out, with Covid-19's impact on the mining industry now increasingly focused on the demand side," it says.