Diversified global miner Anglo American noted that its mine production levels reached 95pc by the end of 2020 after recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company expects to produce 640,000-680,000mt of copper, 64-67mn mt of iron ore, and 42,000-44,000mt of nickel in 2021. This outlook is similar to actual production figures in 2020.
Anglo American produced 647,000mt of copper in 2020, growing by 1pc from 638,000mt in 2019. The Collahuasi mine in Chile, which the company operates with Glencore, produced 11pc more of the red metal in the past year, contributing 275,900mt to the total output. The output from Los Bronces, however, fell by 3pc to 324,000mt in 2020.
Iron ore production fell by 7pc in 2020 to 61.1mn mt, compared with 65.5mn mt in 2019. The decline was attributed largely to lower output from the Kumba mine in South Africa due to higher-than-expected rainfall in the region and operational issues at the Sishen crusher.
The company’s nickel production increased by 2pc to 43,500mt in 2020 against 42,600mt in 2019.
Fourth Quarter 2020
The miner’s copper production increased by 6pc during Q4 2020 to 167,800mt from 71,700mt in the same period last year. The improved volume was due to a 34pc rise in production at Los Bronces (95,900mt), which offset the 18pc lower output from Collahuasi (59,200) during maintenance in the period and lower grade recovery.
Iron ore production in Q4 tallied at 16mn mt, down 11pc from 17.9mn mt in the same quarter of 2019. Despite record production at Minas-Rio of 6.46mn mt, 19pc lower production at Kumba due to rail and port maintenance resulted in overall declines.
During Q4 2020, nickel volumes were flat at 11,700mt.