Mexico sees gold, silver production down in 2016

Mexico expects gold and silver production this year to drop while copper output will be flat as low prices continue to weigh on the sector, the government's top mining official said in an interview.

Mario Cantú, the economy ministry's general mining coordinator, said gold output this year is estimated to reach about 120,000 kilograms, or down nearly 4 percent compared to production of 124,581 kg in 2015.

Silver production is expected to fall in 2016 by more than 6 percent compared to last year, to reach 5,245 tonnes.

Meanwhile, copper output is seen flat this year at about 540,000 tonnes, compared to production of 540,468 tonnes in 2015.