LSE- and Nasdaq-listed Afarak Group has reported a 50.6% decline in production for the first quarter of this year, to 37 000 t, owing to reduced mining activity at its South African mines in line with lower market prices and demand.
Production in the first quarter of last year totalled 76 405 t.
Specialty alloy production amounted to 25 838 t in the quarter under review, compared with 27 168 t produced in the prior corresponding quarter.
Ferroalloy production totalled 11 890 t, which was 76% lower year-on-year, against the 49 237 t of ferroalloys produced in the first quarter of 2020.
Afarak says its group mining activity decreased by 47.7% year-on-year in the quarter, with mining activity remaining lower than normal at its Turkish mines and significantly lower mining activity at the South African mines.
Processing volumes decreased by 75.9% year-on-year in the quarter under review.
The company says the low demand for low-carbon ferrochrome during 2020 started to improve during the first quarter; however, production was still lower at Afarak’s EWW plant, in Germany, when compared with the prior comparable quarter of 2020.
The production in the ferro-alloys segment recorded during 2020 related to processed material at the Mogale plant, which was reclassified as a discontinued operation during 2020.
Afarak operates the Stellite and Mecklenburg mines, in South Africa, as well as the Mogale processing plant.
In Turkey, it operates the Kavak and Tavash mines, while it has the EWW processing plant in Germany.