Anglo reports mixed Q1 production, lowers diamond guidance

Diversified mining giant Anglo American said it delivered a "solid" production performance in the first quarter, in line with its expectations despite two of its three largest divisions experiencing declines in output.

The company held on to full-year production guidance for most of its commodity classes, except the diamond segment which was lowered "in light of current trading conditions".

Iron ore from its South African Kumba operations totalled 12.2m tonnes in the three months to 31 March up 7% on last year due to improved equipment productivity at Sishen and plant performance at Kolomela.

Meanwhile, iron ore from Minas-Rio was 1.2m tonnes as the project continued to ramp up. There was no comparator with the year before, though output was 71% higher than the fourth quarter of 2014.

Together, iron ore and manganese operations accounted for $5.2bn of the group's $31.0bn revenues made in 2014.

One of its other big divisions, coal, which generated $5.8bn of revenues last year, experienced mixed fortunes. Anglo reported a 17% drop in metallurgical coal production to 5m tonnes after its Canadian operation Peace River Coal was put on care and maintenance at the end of 2014, while Australian production was hit by a tropical cyclone. Thermal coal output was up 11% year-on-year at 8.7m tonnes.

Production of copper, Anglo's other big segment responsible for $4.8bn of revenues in 2014, fell 15% to 171,800 tonnes as two processing plants at Los Bronces were taken offline for 51 days to manage water reserve levels.

Elsewhere, nicked production fell 27% to 6,700 tonnes , platinum output jumped 50% to 536,000 ounces, while diamond production rose 2% to 7.7m carats. Diamond production guidance for 2015 was lowered from 32m-34m carats to 30m-32m carats.