Diversified miner Anglo American achieved a 7% year-on-year increase in total production on a copper equivalent basis for the fourth quarter of 2018, excluding the effect of the stoppage at its Minas-Rio iron-ore mine, in Brazil.
“Our continuing focus on efficiency and productivity improvements across the business resulted in another strong quarter, adding to our consistent record of delivery,” CEO Mark Cutifani commented in a statement on Thursday.
He pointed out that solid operational performance had resulted in a 23% increase in copper output to 183 500 t, with increases at all operations, reflecting a continued strong operational performance and planned higher grades.
This more than offset the impact of infrastructure constraints at its Kumba iron-ore operation in South Africa, where output decreased by 13% year-on-year to 10.2-million tonnes.
“We ended this successful quarter with the restart of operations at Minas-Rio and the receipt of a key approval relating to the important Step 3 licence area that supports its increase in production towards design capacity,” he added.
Meanwhile, its diamond mining subsidiary De Beers increased its output by 12% to 9.1-million carats, while Anglo American Platinum increased its platinum and palladium output by 3% year-on-year to 602 300 oz and 386 600 oz, respectively.
Metallurgical coal production increased by 15% to 5.6-million tonnes, driven by productivity improvements at Moranbah and the continued Grosvenor ramp-up, in Australia.
Thermal coal export production decreased by 9% to 6.9-million tonnes as a result of the impact of rain at Cerrejón, in Colombia.