Glencore ‘strong production performance for the first six months’

In his Half-Year Production Report 2026, Glencore Chief Executive Officer, Gary Nagle stated: “We are pleased to report a strong production performance for the first six months of the year, where our key assets largely performed in line with expectations and previously communicated guidance. Quarter on quarter, own sourced production volumes were higher in zinc, nickel, gold, steelmaking coal and energy coal.

“Full year 2026 production guidance for copper, zinc and nickel remains unchanged, while the mid-points of energy and steelmaking coal guidance are up by 1Mt and down by 1Mt, respectively. Maintaining our original copper and zinc guidance, despite completion of the Kidd mine sale on 1 June 2026, with its corresponding rest-of-year loss of c.20kt and c.11kt of zinc and copper respectively, implies a like-for-like upgrade in the guidance mid-points for these two commodities.

“In our Marketing segment, we expect to report a strong half-year Marketing Adjusted EBIT of c.$3.3 billion.”

H1 production highlights

• Own sourced copper production of 397,000 tonnes was 53,100 tonnes (15%) above H1 2025, reflecting various higher contributions across the portfolio, primarily due to increased mining rates and improved grades at African Copper (55,000 tonnes) and higher grades at Antamina (27,700 tonnes), partly offset by the planned closure of the Mount Isa copper mine in July 2025 (20,400 tonnes).
• Own sourced cobalt production of 10,200 tonnes was 8,700 tonnes (46%) below H1 2025, primarily reflecting the DRC government’s ongoing cobalt export quota regime, with operating activities requiring careful consideration of quota allocations, whereby prioritisation and focus is given to copper production. In this context, cobalt contained in mixed ore is increasingly being held in solution, rather than processed and dried into saleable cobalt in hydroxides. This material will ultimately be processed and sold at a later date, as export regulations evolve.
• Own sourced zinc production of 365,600 tonnes was 99,600 tonnes (21%) lower than H1 2025, primarily reflecting Lady Loretta’s end of mine life in late 2025 (51,000 tonnes) and lower zinc grades at Antamina (39,200 tonnes), in line with its current higher copper/lower zinc grade phasing. The decrease also reflects the disposal of the Kidd mine in Canada on 1 June 2026.
• Own sourced nickel production of 35,800 tonnes was broadly in line with H1 2025.
• Attributable chrome ore production of 1,647,000 tonnes was 70,000 tonnes (4%) lower than H1 2025, reflecting the operating conditions over the period.
• Steelmaking coal production of 13.5 million tonnes was 2.2 million tonnes (14%) below H1 2025, due to lower EVR production, primarily reflecting lower throughput and yields, which are expected to normalise in H2 2026, somewhat offset by higher Australian volumes.
• Energy coal production of 47.4 million tonnes was 0.9 million tonnes (2%) lower than H1 2025, primarily reflecting the impact of the voluntary production curtailment implemented at Cerrejón from Q2 2025 in response to market conditions.

2026 production guidance is largely unchanged from previous guidance.