Glencore reduces forecast for key copper and cobalt mine in DRC

Glencore said the production of the Kamoto copper-cobalt project in the Democratic Republic would be lower than expected this year, as it aimed to improve the mine's performance.

The Swiss miner and commodity trader said that Katanga Mining, its DRC subsidiary, had recently launched a comprehensive badysis of its business, "targeting improvements in terms of efficiency and valuation," as Significant cost savings.

"The company is now expecting copper and cobalt production in 2019 to be lower than previously forecast, about 285,000 tonnes of copper and about 26,000 tonnes of cobalt content," Katanga said in a statement. communicated.

"The long-term production of 300,000 tpy of copper cathode and 30,000 tpa of cobalt contained in the hydroxide on average over the life of the mine remains unchanged."

Katanga is the majority shareholder of Kamoto, one of Africa's largest copper and cobalt mines and a key growth badet for Glencore.

Glencore took steps to strengthen control of the company earlier this year by installing senior executives to run the business. Jeff Gerard, a veteran of the Glencore Coal Unit, was named chief executive earlier this month following Paul Smith, Glencore's strategy director, who became chief financial officer in January.

Glencore is committed to playing a more active role in Katanga after the company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange was fined in 2018 by Canadian regulators for making false and misleading statements.

Its new production guidelines were announced when Glencore released a production update covering the first three months of the year.

Glencore said its first quarter production of 320,700 tonnes was 24,700 tonnes, down 7% from the same period last year, due to severe flooding in Australia and blackouts. foundries at the Mopani mine in Zambia.

He also revised the forecast for copper for the full year from 40,000, or 3%, to 1.46 million tonnes because of Mopani's problems. The forecast for Glencore's nickel, ferrochrome and oil processing units has also been revised downward.