First Quantum Minerals reduced its copper production guidance by 30,000-35,000mt to 725,000–770,000mt for the year while its nickel guidance stands reduced to 15,000-17,000mt in 2020.
The reduced guidance can be attributed to lower mine operations at the Cobre Panama copper mine and Ravensthorpe nickel mine during the second quarter. The company’s overall capital expenditure is expected to be close to $220mn this year, due to the capacity expansion project at Cobre Panama and other projects like the Shoemaker Levy Deposit at the Raventhorpe mine.
First Quantum’s copper production in the first half of 2020 was up by 16pc to 364,344mt from 305,368mt in H1 2019. In Q2, production rose by 1pc to 169,059mt from 168,399mt in Q2 2019.
The group made its first nickel shipment from Ravensthorpe in May this year and produced 1,979mt of nickel in the second quarter. The mine is expected to ramp up production through the upcoming quarter.
In H1 2020, First Quantum’s copper sales rose 20pc to 349,897mt over 279,595mt in the first half of 2019. In Q2, the company’s copper sales increased by 7pc to 159,944mt from 149,333mt during the same period in 2019.
First Quantum’s total sales revenue in the first six months of the year was $2.1bn compared to $1.7bn in H1 2019. In the second quarter of the year, the firm’s sales revenue rose to $1bn over $939mn in Q2 2019 – of which, the nickel hedge sales program contributed around $9mn.
Comparative EBITDA in H1 2020 was $786mn as opposed to $744mn in the first half of 2019 while its EBITDA dropped to $352mn from $376mn in Q2 over the prior year period.