Reuters reported that Anglo American posted a rise in quarterly output for its key commodities with iron ore up and copper boosted by a ramped up Los Bronces mine while diamonds tumbled as weaker prices prompted a drop in production.
Platinum was another weak spot for the global miner with output hit by safety stoppages affecting the entire South African sector. Anglo's own stoppages were more than double those of the Q4 of 2010.
Mr Tim Dudley analyst of Collins Stewart said that "The major trend you have seen across the majors has been increasing iron ore production it is where the margins are and they are following suit with that. Another positive was metallurgical coal which has also got strong margins. That should help offset weakness in platinum, which was well flagged and expected."
Iron ore, a key plank of Anglo's growth strategy, was up 5% at 12.4 million tonnes as the USD 1 billion Kolomela mine was brought in ahead of schedule during the quarter and, along with further improvements at Amapa in Brazil, helped offset a tougher quarter at Sishen in South Africa.
Stronger iron ore has been a feature across production numbers for the last quarter of 2011 as miners take advantage of good margins. BHP Billiton, the world's largest miner has said it expected record iron ore production this year, shrugging off worries about Chinese demand.
While copper production across the sector has missed expectations for much of a poor 2011, Anglo for whom copper represents roughly a third of profit, posted Q4 output of 170,000 tonnes, 10% YoY and 22% higher than the Q3 when production was hit by blizzards and lower grades.
The Los Bronces mine, at the heart of the miner's tangled legal dispute with Chilean state copper producer Codelco helped the recovery and along with higher grades helped to offset the impact of stoppages at the Collahuasi mine.
Anglo has been battling Codelco in Chile's courts over a disputed option that could allow the world's largest copper producer to take a stake in Anglo's southern Chilean properties including Los Bronces, into which the miner has already invested USD 2.8 billion. It provided no update on the dispute on Thursday.
(Sourced from Reuters)
