Anglo American lifts 3Q met coal production by 22pc

UK-South African mining firm Anglo American increased its metallurgical coal production by 22pc on the year in the third quarter on higher wash plant throughput.

Anglo produced 6.57mn t of met coal in the July-September quarter of this year compared with 5.38mn t during the same three-month period last year when the company underwent a longwall change at its Moranbah mine in Australia's Queensland.

The third-quarter total included 5.62mn t of hard coking coal, about 810,000t of pulverised coal injection (PCI) and around 143,000t of semi-soft coking coal.

Met coal output in the third quarter was also up by 12pc from 5.84mn t in the second quarter. The company maintained its full-year production guidance for metallurgical coal at 22mn-24mn t.

Anglo's global iron ore production was 16.65mn in the third quarter of this year. This included 10.52mn t from the Kumba division in South Africa and 6.13mn t from its Minas-Rio mine in Brazil.

Third-quarter production at Kumba was little changed from the second quarter as an increase in output from its Sishen mine offset a drop from the Kolomela mine amid infrastructure upgrades.

Production at Minas-Rio was suspended for most of last year after the discovery of a slurry pipeline leak, but the mine was able to undertake optimisation work in the meantime. Minas-Rio is one of the world's largest sources of high-grade iron ore concentrate.

The construction of a tailings dam raise at Minas-Rio was completed in August and approval for the conversion of the installation licence to an operating licence is expected by the end of the year, the company said.

The full-year iron ore production guidance for Kumba was unchanged at 42mn-43mn t, while the production guidance for Minas-Rio increased to 20mn-22mn t from 19mn-21mn t previously based on continued strong performance.

source: Argus Media