ANGLO American turned in a robust fourth quarter production performance which took full year production on a copper equivalent basis some 5% higher compared to 2016, largely owing to good numbers at Kumba Iron Ore and De Beers, its 85% subsidiary.
Mark Cutifani, CEO of Anglo American, said the year-on-year improvement was despite cutting platinum and metallurgical coal output. "The ramp up of Gahcho Ku?(C) and Grosvenor mines made positive contributions to our production profile in 2017, and a strong performance from Sishen resulted in an 8% increase in production from Kumba Iron Ore," he said in a statement.
Gahcho Ku?(C) is the De Beers' newly commissioned diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. It reached nameplate production in the second quarter of the financial year.
All in all, Canada production doubled to one million carats in the fourth quarter (versus the fourth quarter of Anglo's 2016 financial year) as a result of Gahcho Ku?(C).
On year-on-year basis, diamonds showed the largest improvement which at 33.5 million carats was an increase of 22%. Iron ore production from South Africa came in at 45 million tonnes (Mt) whilst production from Minas Rio, Anglo's Brazilian iron ore producer, was 16.8Mt, a 4% lift year-on-year.
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