Anglo American (LON:AAL) has reported robust production results for Q1 2017 with strong production of bulks and diamonds offset by weakness in base metal production. Iron ore production at Kumba of 10.5mnt was up 17% YoY due to ongoing mine plan improvements whilst at Minas Rio the ramp up continued with a 30% YoY increase in production to 4.3mnt. Meanwhile, met coal production of 5.2mnt was up 28% YoY while thermal coal production was up 6% YoY to 6.5mnt.
De Beers also reported strong operational performance with diamond production of 7.4mnct up 8% YoY, as curtailments were partially relaxed due to improving trading conditions. Meanwhile, copper production of 143kt was down 6% YoY due to weak grades at Los Bronces and a temporary suspension at El Soldado. We note that AAL is the second of the majors to realise weak copper production results in Q1. Nickel production, down 12% to 9.9kt was also impacted by unplanned maintenance. Platinum production was largely unchanged at 572koz.