Anglo American's metallurgical coal production in the first quarter of this year increased 7% year on year but slid 20.5% from the previous quarter to 3.78 million tonnes, showed the miner's quarterly operating report released on April 23.
Among them, the production of hard coking coal (HCC) reached 2.92 million tonnes, up 2.8% on the year yet down 23.2% from the last quarter. The output of PCI coal and semi-soft coking coal (SSCC) increased 24.3% year on year but decreased 9.8% from the previous quarter to 859,000 tonnes.
The year-on-year increase in metallurgical coal production was mainly due to the company's Aquila underground mine under the longwall mining phase and improved efficiency of opencast production at the Capcoal mining area.
However, part of the increase was offset by constrained production at the Dawson opencast mine and adverse geological conditions at the Moranbah mine.
Its thermal coal output for export grew 14% over the same period of last year and soared 9.5 times to 324,000 tonnes in the first quarter, according to the report.
In terms of sales, the company's metallurgical coal sales in the period rose 14.8% year on year and slightly ticked up 0.8% from the last quarter to 3.83 million tonne.
Specifically, HCC sales increased 10.2% year on year but edged down 0.4% quarter on quarter to 2.97 million tonnes; sales volumes of PCI coal and SSCC picked up 34.3% on the year and 5.6% from the fourth quarter of 2023 to 853,000 tonnes.
Sales of exported thermal coal were 429,000 tonnes, up 6.7% year on year yet down 13.2% quarter on quarter.
Anglo American set coal production guidance at 15-17 million tonnes for 2024, with the production cost estimated at $115/t.
According to the announcement, the planned longwall face movements will be carried out at Moramba mine and Grosvenor mine in the third quarter of this year.
In the first quarter, Anglo American's iron ore production inched up 0.4% on the year and rose 9.7% over the previous quarter to 15.14 million wet tonnes; iron ore sales were 13.0 million wet tonnes, falling 10.6% year on year and 20.8% quarter on quarter. The 2024 production target is at a range of 58-62 million wet tonnes.
During the same period, the company produced 198,000 tonnes of copper, up 11% year on year but down 14% from the fourth quarter of 2023. The annual production target for 2024 is between 730,000 and 790,000 tonnes.
(Writing by Shengnan Liu Editing by Alex Guo)
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