LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Miner Anglo American plc (AAUKY.PK, AAL.L) reported Thursday that its fourth-quarter production was broadly flat compared to last year.
Rough diamond production increased 15 percent to 7.7 million carats from last year's 6.7 million carats, principally from Jwaneng in Botswana as well as in Namibia, reflecting planned higher production in response to strong consumer demand.
De Beers Group production is on a 100 percent basis, except for the Gahcho Kué joint venture which is on an attributable 51 percent basis.
Platinum group metals production grew 3 percent. Metallurgical coal production increased 5 percent, reflecting an increase in production at the Dawson open cut operation.
The company said the production in the fourth quarter benefited from higher rough diamond production at De Beers, a return to pre-Covid production levels at open cut metallurgical coal mines and improved mining performance at Amandelbult which resulted in higher metal in concentrate production from PGMs business.
Meanwhile, Copper production dropped 4 percent to 161 thousand tonnes, and iron ore fell 7 percent. At copper operations, Collahuasi's production increased as a result of strong plant performance and planned maintenance in the comparable period of 2020.
Mark Cutifani, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said, 'Our production was broadly flat compared to Q4 of 2020, with our operating levels at approximately 95 percent(1) of normal capacity through the year, largely due to the ongoing Covid related effects on the operating environment.'
Looking ahead for fiscal 2022, the company expects production of Diamonds at 30-33 Mct, Copper at 680-760 kt, Platinum Group Metals at 4.1-4.5 Moz, and Metallurgical Coal at 20-22 Mt.
In 2021, production of Diamonds were at 32.3 Mct, Copper 647 kt, Platinum group metals 4.30 Moz, and Metallurgical coal at 14.9 Mt.
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