Mixed fortunes for Anglo’s copper, coal and nickel divisions – by Ilan Solomons (MiningWeekly.com – October 24, 2017)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major Anglo American recorded increases in production at its copper units, while coal and nickel production decreased in the third quarter, ended September 30.

The company on Tuesday posted a 6% year-on-year increase in production on a copper-equivalent basis in the third quarter of the year. For the first nine months of the year, copper equivalent production had increased by 8%, while copper production increased by 5% to 147 300 t.

Production from the Los Bronces mine, in Chile, increased by 8% to 78 100 t. Anglo American stated that higher ore grades at the mine had been partially offset by the impact of a ball mill stator failure at the processing plant, which reduced throughput. Repairs are scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter.

At Collahuasi, also in Chile, attributable production increased marginally to 58 300 t, which was owing largely to the improvements in plant performance following the completion of planned maintenance in the second quarter of the year.

The next major maintenance, to replace the stator motor on one of the two ball mills in Line 3, which account for about 60% of production, is planned for the first half of 2018.

For the rest of this article: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/mixed-fortunes-for-anglos-copper-coal-and-nickel-divisions-2017-10-24/rep_id:3650