31st Jul 2019 07:29
(Alliance News) - Miner and trader Glencore PLC cut its 2019 production guidance for copper and ferrochrome Wednesday after a mixed set of interim output figures.
For the six months ended June, copper production fell 4.8% to 663,000 tonnes from 696,200 tonnes a year prior. Nickel production was down 11% to 55,400 tonnes from 62,200 tonnes a year before.
Gold output fell 13% to 423,000 ounces from 487,000 ounces a year prior. Silver production dropped 7.2% to 15.5 million ounces from 16.7 million ounces. Ferrochrome production was down 2.3% to 799,000 tonnes from 818,000 tonnes.
Conversely, cobalt production jumped 28% to 21,300 tonnes from 16,700 tonnes a year before. Zinc production was up 7.6% to 535,900 tonnes from 498,200 tonnes. Lead production rose 27% to 147,500 tonnes from 115,700 tonnes.
Coal production increased 10% to 68.2 million tonnes from 62.0 million tonnes the year prior, but oil production fell 4.7% to 6.1 million barrels from 6.4 million barrels.
For all of 2019, Glencore cut its guidance for both copper and ferrochrome. The firm expects copper production of around 1.45 million tonnes, down 10,000 tonnes from previous forecast in April due to a smelter shutdown at Mopani.
Ferrochrome production guidance was reduced by 160,000 tonnes to 1.48 million tonnes due to the "continuation of extended winter shutdown programme".
Other guidance figures were held firm. In 2019, Glencore expects to produce 57,000 tonnes of cobalt, 1.2 million tonnes of zinc, and 145 million tonnes of coal. Nickel output is expected at 128,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, oil production guidance is forecast around 5.5 million barrels.
"I am pleased to report a solid performance from our underlying base business, where our key assets in copper, coal, zinc and nickel performed largely in line with our expectations," Glencore Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg said.
"However, our African copper business did not meet expected operational performance," Glasenberg added. "We have moved to address the challenges at Katanga with several management changes as well as overseeing a detailed operational review, targeting multiple improvements to achieve consistent, cost-efficient production at design capacity."
"In Zambia, we are nearing the end of our multi-year site transformation projects, including plans to commission a new copper concentrator towards the middle of 2020 and the development of three new mining shafts," Glasenberg continued. "Completion of repairs to Mopani's smelter is expected by the end of 2019. Our African copper assets retain significant potential and will play a key role in the transition to a low carbon economy."
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