Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) intends to raise its copper output to 450,000mt during the 2020-21 fiscal, which began on Wednesday.
The company’s expects an output of 225,000mt of copper during both halves of the new financial year, and increased its nickel and ferronickel production forecasts to 60,800mt and 13,800mt for the period.
However, much of the world is on lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 and the global economy has decelerated extremely quickly, prompting Japan’s second-largest copper smelter to state that it is still evaluating how the pandemic could disrupt its plans for the year.
During the first half of its 2019-20 financial year, SMM produced 196,446mt of copper, 29,014mt of nickel, and 6,480mt of ferronickel.