Diamonds and Platinum Shine in Anglo American Second Quarter Production

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) – Anglo American (AAL.L) production rose 20% in the second quarter, helped by higher production of platinum and diamonds, the miner said on Tuesday, despite operations functioning to 95% of full capacity because of COVID-19 related disruptions.

Production of rough diamonds increased 134% from the same period last year as consumer demand recovered, while the production of platinum group metals from the South African unit Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J) rose 59% to 1.06 million ounces.

Copper production rose 2% to 170,000 tonnes thanks to higher production from Chile’s largest Anglo mine, Los Bronces.

Anglo expects copper production to reach between 650,000 tonnes and 680,000 tonnes this year. This compares to previous forecasts of 640,000 to 680,000 tonnes.

Anglo shares were up 1.8% at 07:15 GMT.

The production of iron ore and manganese also increased, while the production of coal and nickel declined.

The miner has tightened its annual production targets for diamonds to 32-33 million carats from 32-34 million previously, and for platinum group metal concentrates to 4.2-4.4 million ounces, from 4.2-4.6 million previously.

“All things considered, Anglo appears to be performing relatively well,” Jefferies analysts said.

Metallurgical coal production fell 25% in the second quarter to 3 million tonnes.

Anglo American restarted underground mining at its Moranbah North metallurgical coal mine in Australia in June after a shutdown due to high gas levels.

He said its Grosvenor coal mine, also in Australia and which was suspended after an explosion in May 2020, is expected to restart at the end of this year.

The London-listed miner in June ceded its South African thermal coal business into a new company and agreed to sell its stake in Colombian company Cerrejon, preparing to complete its transition out of the lesser fossil fuel assets. more polluting. find out more[nL5N2NP1IB[nL5N2NP1IB[nL5N2NP1IB[nL5N2NP1IB

Reporting by Clara Denina and Helen Reid, editing by Mark Potter

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