Hochschild Mining, thefamily-owned Peruvian silver and gold producer, yesterday unveiled a 29 per cent rise in first-half profits and said full-year profits would be boosted by the opening of three new mines.

Higher silver and gold prices led to a 20 per cent rise in sales to $121m (£60.5m) in the first half. Mining costs rose only slightly, but administrative expenses doubled to $30.1m because of the costs of listing in London. Hochschild is cash-rich and interest on its cash balance helped push pre-tax profits up to $48.2m, against $37.2m last time.