Drought forces Anglo to cut back on copper production
The company, which announced its production numbers for the third quarter ended September yesterday, tightened the production guidance for copper to between 630000 and 650000 tons from a previous estimate of 630000 and 660000 tons due to the severe drought, which it said remained a risk for 2020 production.
Anglo said the unprecedented drought conditions in central Chile had resulted in an 8percent drop in copper production, partially offset by strong plant performance at the Collahuasi mine also in that country.
“Production from Los Bronces decreased by 16percent to 80400 tons, with a 15percent reduction in plant throughput due to lower water availability, partly offset by planned higher grades. To date, 2019 has been the driest year of the longest drought ever recorded in central Chile,” the company said.
Anglo – whose portfolio includes iron ore, platinum, coal and diamonds – warned that power utility Eskom’s prolonged load-shedding would likely impact the production guidance at Anglo American Platinum.
Source: iol.co.za
