Copper and iron ore give Anglo American a strong start to the year

Zawya

25-04-2025

Anglo American has had a strong start to the financial year, with copper and iron ore the star performers for the first quarter ended 31 March 2025.
Anglo American has had a strong start to the financial year with copper and iron ore the star performers for the first quarter ended 31 March 2025
"In copper, Quellaveco and Los Bronces are both performing well, helping to offset the expected lower grades and variability in recoveries at Collahuasi.
'In iron ore, Kumba posted another solid quarter and increased iron ore sales as Transnet saw better rail logistics performance, and Minas-Rio had another excellent quarter,' says Duncan Wanblad, chief executive of Anglo American.
Q1 2025 overview
- Copper production was 168,900 tonnes, reflecting higher production from Peru as a result of higher grades, offset by planned lower production in Chile, which resulted in a 15% decrease year-on-year.
- Iron ore production increased by 2% to 15.4 million tonnes, primarily driven by a strong first quarter performance from Minas-Rio.
- Manganese ore production decreased by 60% to 317,000 tonnes, primarily due to the ongoing temporary suspension of the Australian operations following the damage caused by a tropical cyclone in March 2024. Export sales are expected to resume in the June 2025 quarter.
- Production from Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) operations decreased by 17% to 696,300 ounces, primarily reflecting planned lower purchase of concentrate volumes, as well as heavy rains and widespread flooding which impacted own mined production, primarily at Amandelbult.
- Steelmaking coal production was 41% lower at 2.2 million tonnes, primarily due to the underground fire at Grosvenor in June 2024. Excluding the impact of Grosvenor and Jellinbah6, production increased by 11%, reflecting higher production at the Dawson open-cut mine and the Aquila underground mine.
- Nickel production increased by 3% to 9,800 tonnes, reflecting operational stability at Barro Alto.
- Rough diamond production decreased by 11% to 6.1 million carats, reflecting the continued production response to the prolonged period of lower demand.
A focus on simplified portfolios
Wanblad says their focus on operational excellence is delivering valuable stability to its simplified portfolio, which provides a strong base for the rest of the year.
"We are making good progress with our portfolio simplification as we prepare to complete the transactions through which we will exit our PGMs, Steelmaking Coal and Nickel businesses."
The demerger of Anglo American Platinum is expected to be effective from 31 May, subject to shareholder approval on 30 April.
He also refers to the sale of their steelmaking coal business to Peabody Energy and the sale of its nickel business to MMG Singapore Resources.
In the first quarter, the company also finalised a new long-term diamond sales agreement with the Government of Botswana.
'We continue to pursue a dual track process to divest our interest in De Beers, which we are committed to completing at the right time and when market conditions allow,' adds Wanblad.
He says 2025 is a year of portfolio and organisational transition for Anglo American.
"We will emerge as a highly differentiated, sustainably higher margin and higher return on capital employed investment proposition, well positioned for our next phase of growth and value delivery."
Commenting on the impact of tariffs, he says while the impact on the global economy is uncertain in the short term, "we have conviction in the strong longer-term outlook for our products, which have scope to become even more important to the changing global economy in the coming years".
He notes that their restructuring and cost savings programme remains on track, giving them confidence that they are well on their way to reshaping their business and embedding far greater resilience, both through the cycle and in the current volatile macro environment.
Looking ahead
"Looking ahead, we are working at pace with Codelco to secure definitive agreements later this year to develop a joint mine plan for our respective Los Bronces and Andina copper mines - both world-class in their own right.'
Wanblad adds that they are also advancing their considerable pipeline of organic growth options.
'The recent designation of their polymetallic Sakatti project in Finland as a 'Strategic Project' by the European Commission further increases confidence in our growth path to one million tonnes of annual copper production."