As one of Newmont’s flagship assets, the Peñasquito Mine sits in Mexico’s Zacatecas state, where skarn and breccia pipe formations define its geology. The operation is a large-scale open pit, and its 2025 production figures reflect that scale: 5.8 tonnes of gold, 874 tonnes of silver, 98 kilotonnes of lead, and 231 kilotonnes of zinc, all drawn from 34.9 million tonnes of processed ore per year.
Peñasquito also holds substantial proven and probable reserves: 196.9 tonnes of gold at an average grade of 0.54 g/t, 12.3 kilotonnes of silver at 33.84 g/t, 1.2 million tonnes of lead (0.32%), and 2.8 million tonnes of zinc (0.78%). Beyond those reserves, measured, indicated, and inferred resources add another 134.7 tonnes of gold (0.31 g/t), 11.4 kilotonnes of silver (26.7 g/t), 1.16 million tonnes of lead (0.28%), and 2.46 million tonnes of zinc (0.58%). All told, the mine operates at an all-in sustaining cost of 1,120 US dollars per ounce of gold.
Processing relies on a blend of methods: 54 Mtpa SAG mills, run-of-mine dump leach, flotation, and the Merrill-Crowe system. Recovery rates stand at 68% for gold and 76% for silver; a reminder that even a well-tuned polymetallic operation has its limits.
In short, Peñasquito is a complex, high-volume mine that balances substantial reserves with moderate recovery rates. Its true strength lies in the combination of precious and base metals, which helps keep costs manageable despite the technical challenges of extracting value from a diverse ore body.
