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Diversified mining giant Anglo American said on Tuesday its first quarter output rose 9% largely due to improved copper output, with the company also keeping the 2023 guidance for its raft of minerals unchanged.
The miner, whose subsidiaries include Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Kumba Iron Ore, and diamond miner De Beers, said on Tuesday that copper production increased by 28% in the quarter as it ramped-up of production from its Quellaveco copper mine in Peru, while steelmaking coal production increased by 59% due to all three of its underground longwall mines being operational during the period.
Kumba increased its production 14% to 9.4 million tonnes, with the company benefitting from lower rainfall during the quarter. Ore railed to port by Transnet increased by 3% following the completion of outstanding maintenance and a successful spraying programme that reduced locust problems, which had impacted rail performance in the comparative period.
In a separate release, however, Kumba said its rail performance was below planned levels required to drawdown stock held at the mines.
"On the marketing front, economic activity in China strengthened on the back of pro-growth policy decisions with improved demand from China expected to offset the slowdown in other markets," Kumba CEO Mpumi Zikalala said in a statement.
"The demand outlook for our high-quality iron ore product continues to be positive given the steel intensity of the global energy transition."
Anglo American Platinum, meanwhile, said its platinum group metals (PGMs) production decreased by 6% to 901 200 ounces, with load-curtailment affecting about 13 days of production during the quarter, though the miner said in a separate release its guidance was unchanged.
"Production was impacted by the lower grade areas we are mining at Mogalakwena [Limpopo] for the next three years," Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen said in a statement.
"This reduction is aligned with expectation and mine sequencing was also impacted by high rainfall as well as production impacted due to extended downtime at the Mogalakwena Baobab plant."
Anglo also said on Tuesday manganese ore production increased by 5% to 840 900 tonnes, primarily reflecting the impact of the planned maintenance at the SA operations in the prior year.
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Shares in Anglo American had lost a little more than 1% on Tuesday, while Amplats had lost almost 3% and Kumba was down more than 1%.
