Q1 2020 Production Report
23 April, 2020
Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said: “Our overwhelming priority is the safety of our people, their families and our host communities. We have taken extensive measures across our business to help safeguard against the spread of COVID-19, while also protecting the integrity of our assets to enable a swift return to normal levels of operation when appropriate. The onset of varying degrees of lockdown or distancing measures in a number of our operating countries towards the end of the quarter, combined with the impact of longwall moves in our Metallurgical Coal business, led to 4%(1) lower production compared to the same period of 2019, despite continued strong iron ore production at Minas-Rio.”
Q1 Highlights
- Minas-Rio in Brazil continued its strong operational performance, with 6.4 million tonnes of premium grade iron ore production, reflecting P101 productivity improvements.
- Continued strong performance from Collahuasi in Chile, with a 16% increase in copper production partly offsetting the expected impact of the ongoing water constraints at Los Bronces.
- Metallurgical coal production decreased by 8% to 3.8 million tonnes due to the timing of longwall moves.
- The start of a COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa had a limited impact of c.2% on Q1 production; however, refined PGMs production was significantly reduced by the announced convertor plant outage.
- Completed $0.5 billion cash acquisition of Sirius Minerals Plc and its UK Woodsmith polyhalite project.
Production Summary
Q1 2020 | Q1 2019 | % vs. Q1 2019 | |
---|---|---|---|
Diamonds (Mct)(2) | 7.8 | 7.9 | (1)% |
Copper (kt)(3) | 147 | 161 | (9)% |
Platinum (koz)(4) | 441 | 472 | (7)% |
Palladium (koz)(4) | 303 | 327 | (7)% |
Iron ore – Kumba (Mt) | 9.4 | 9.5 | (1)% |
Iron ore – Minas-Rio (Mt)(5) | 6.4 | 4.9 | 31% |
Metallurgical coal (Mt) | 3.8 | 4.2 | (8)% |
Thermal coal (Mt)(6) | 6.2 | 6.6 | (7)% |
Nickel (Kt)(7) | 10.9 | 9.8 | 11% |
Manganese ore (kt) | 843 | 874 | (4)% |
This Production Report for the first quarter ended 31 March 2020 is unaudited.
(1) Copper equivalent production is normalised to reflect closure of Victor (De Beers) and Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg material that has transitioned to a tolling arrangement (Platinum Group Metals).
(2) De Beers production is on a 100% basis, except for the Gahcho Kué joint venture which is on an attributable 51% basis.
(3) Contained metal basis. Reflects copper production from the Copper business unit only (excludes copper production from the Platinum Group Metals business unit).
(4) Produced ounces of metal in concentrate. Reflects own mine production and purchases. Normalised for the transition of Sibanye-Stillwater Rustenburg material from purchased concentrate to a tolling arrangement.
(5) Wet basis.
(6) Reflects export production from South Africa and attributable export production (33.3%) from Colombia.
(7) Reflects nickel production from the Nickel business unit only (excludes nickel production from the Platinum Group Metals business unit).
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