Copper mines set up Anglo for strong 2018

After a standout performance in its copper division in the September quarter and positive performances across the bulk of its other businesses so far in 2018, Anglo American lined itself up for a strong 2018 by meeting its production targets.

Anglo, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, reported quarterly falls in diamond, iron ore and metallurgical coal production for the three months to end-September compared with a year ago, but these were offset by an outstanding performance from its copper mines.

“Strong operational performance at our copper assets delivered a 17% increase in production, more than offsetting planned lower volumes at De Beers and the impact of rail infrastructure constraints at Kumba in the first half of the year,” Anglo CEO Mark Cutifani said, referring to Kumba Iron Ore. On a year-to-date basis, Anglo’s production numbers are all positive, apart from a small dip in iron ore excluding the well-flagged stoppage at the Minas-Rio iron ore mine in Brazil and nickel, but Anglo has retained its full-year forecasts for all its commodities.

Copper production for the year to date was 485,000 tons, 13% higher than a year earlier. Output was 17% higher in the quarter at 17,200 tons.

Kumba, which is 69.7%owned by Anglo, had a difficult start to the year, with derailments on the railway line linking its two mines in the Northern Cape to the Saldanha port 860km away, and refurbishment of the ship loader.

Kumba slowed production in its third quarter, lowering output by 9% to 10.5-million tons to “offset elevated stock levels at Sishen and Kolomela arising from Transnet rail constraints in the first half of 2018”. “Production volumes were impacted by the decrease in processing plant yields as Kumba focused on producing high-quality products to maximise the value of tonnes railed to port and benefit from the strong demand for highgrade ore,” Kumba said.

Export sales fell 10% to 9.7million tons during the quarter as a refurbishment programme at Saldanha left just one ship loader in operation. Kumba’s stockpile of iron ore increased to 6.6-million tons from 6.2-million tons at the end of June.

“Kumba continued to work closely with Transnet to improve logistical performance and good progress has been made during the quarter,” it said, adding it maintained its targeted full-year sales at between 42million and 44-million tons.