Anglo American releases production report for Q3 2021

According to the report production is up 2% compared to Q3 of last year, with its operating levels generally maintained at approximately 95% of normal capacity. The increase in production is led by planned higher rough diamond production at De Beers, increased production from its Minas-Rio iron ore operation in Brazil, reflecting the planned pipeline maintenance in Q3 2020, and improved plant performance at its Kumba iron ore operations in South Africa, said Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American.

“We are broadly on track to deliver our full year production guidance across all products, while taking the opportunity to tighten up the guidance for diamonds, copper and iron ore within our current range as we approach the end of the year. Our copper operations in Chile continue to work hard on mitigating the risk of water availability due to the challenges presented by the longest drought on record for the region, including through sourcing water that is not suitable for use elsewhere and further increasing water recycling.”

Q3 2021 HIGHLIGHTS

• Rough diamond production increased by 28%, principally from the Jwaneng and Venetia mines, reflecting planned higher production in response to the ongoing consumer demand recovery led by the key US and China markets.
• Copper production decreased by 6% due to planned maintenance at Collahuasi, while total year to date production across all copper operations increased marginally by 1% despite ongoing water availability constraints caused by record drought conditions in Chile.
• Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) operations delivered a 39% increase in refined output, reflecting stable performance from the ACP Phase A unit.
• Iron ore production increased by 15%, driven primarily by a 22% uplift from Minas-Rio, reflecting the planned maintenance period in Q3 2020 for routine internal scanning of the pipeline. Kumba production also performed strongly, increasing by 11% due to improved plant performance.
• At its longwall metallurgical coal operations in Australia, Moranbah has steadily improved as they mined through challenging geological zones this quarter, and development work at Grosvenor continues to progress, with longwall mining expected to restart towards the end of the year.
• Primary nickel production increased by 2% over the period and by-product nickel from its PGMs business increased by 20% to 6,000 tonnes.