[Ferro-Alloys.com] Mining giants Anglo American posted an increase in its iron ore and copper production in the first quarter of 2014, broadly in line with analysts’ forecasts, but its platinum output slumped, hit by a strike at its South African operations.

Output of iron ore, which makes up almost half of group earnings, totaled 11.3 million tonnes in the first quarter, up 10 percent from the year before, when production at the Sishen mine in South Africa was curbed following a strike in late 2012.

In copper, the second-largest earner for Anglo, output rose 18 percent year-on-year to 202,000 tonnes, on the back of higher ore grades from the Los Bronces and Collahuasi mines in Chile. Anglo raised its 2014 copper production output guidance to 710,000-730,000 tonnes from 700,000-720,000.

In platinum, where Anglo is cutting jobs and mothballing mines to improve the unit’s profitability, equivalent refined platinum production fell 39 percent to 357,000 ounces, largely due to a crippling three-month mining strike over wages affecting some of its South African operations.Anglo’s platinum unit is also struggling with rising production costs and suppressed prices for the precious metal.
 

• [Editor:Yueleilei]