JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining major Anglo American’s copper production increased by 32% to 207 300 t in the three months ended September 30, driven by improved operating performances and grades at its Los Bronces and Collahuasi operations.

Production at the group’s Collahuasi copper mine, in Chile, increased 130% year-on-year to 63 600 t for the third quarter.

“This significant increase reflects the ball mill breakdown and semiautogenous mill (SAG) 3’s underperformance in 2012. Following the SAG 3 stator motor replacement and repowering in the second quarter of this year, mill throughput has increased, with performance for the quarter in line with expected capacity,” Anglo said in a statement on Friday. 

Further, production at the group’s Los Bronces copper mine, in Chile, increased by 22% year-on-year to 106 400 t, owing to the continued strong performance of the Confluencia plant.

The miner added that reduced mine congestion and debottlenecking at Los Bronces’ primary crushers had improved continuity of ore supply and throughput at both processing plants, while improvements implemented in the Confluencia milling and flotation processes had also resulted in higher recoveries.

Meanwhile, Anglo’s export metallurgical coal production increased by 9% to a record 4.9-million tons in the quarter, owing to continued longwall performance improvements, which offset the planned closure of the group’s Aquila coal mine, in Australia, which was put on care and maintenance at the end of July.

The company’s export thermal coal production of 1.7-million tons reflected an 11% increase, compared with the second quarter, mostly owing to improved equipment performance.

Export thermal coal production from South Africa decreased by 1% to 4.5-million tons, with production increases at Anglo’s Greenside and Kleinkopje collieries offset by challenging mining conditions at the rest of the group’s mines.

In line with improved railing performance, export sales volumes during the third quarter exceeded production by 8%, Anglo stated. 

Third-quarter domestic coal production for Eskom was in line with that of the second quarter, while non-Eskom domestic thermal coal production increased by 9% to 1.7-million tons as a result of additional production at the Isibonelo colliery in Mpumalanga.

Production from the Cerrejón mine, in Colombia, increased by 13% to 3.2-million tons, as the operation maintained a strong recovery, after the strike, during the first quarter.

Further, Anglo’s nickel production increased by 7% to 9 600 t during the quarter, with higher production at Barro Alto, in Brazil, more than offsetting the permanent cessation of production at Loma de Níquel, in Venezuela. Production at Barro Alto increased by 51% to 7 100 t.

Anglo further reported that its niobium production increased by 7% to 1 100 t, while phosphates production increased by 5% to 326 300 t.

The group’s diamond production increased by 21% to 7.7-million carats during the quarter, primarily owing to the Jwaneng mine recovering fully from the slope failure in June last year.

Meanwhile, Kumba Iron Ore’s production decreased by 24% to 9.5-million tons following weaker production at the Sishen mine, which was partially offset by a strong performance at Kolomela.

Anglo American Platinum’s equivalent refined production was reported to be flat at 623 000 oz.