Anglo American said Thursday that it increased output of iron ore and metallurgical coal in the first quarter ended March 31, mainly due to a ramp-up in operations.
Iron ore production rose 10% year on year to 11.3 million mt on increased plant throughput, the company said in a statement. The increase was also marked by strikes at the end of 2012, which reduced output in Q1 2013.
Anglo American, which mines the steel raw material in South Africa as Kumba Iron Ore, maintained its full-year guidance for its Sishen and Kolomela mines at 44-46 million mt.
It also said its Minas Rio project in Brazil is continuing to progress with the aim of shipping its first ore by the end of 2014. As at the end of Q1, work on its beneficiation plant, pipeline, filtration plant and port has reached 88%.
Anglo American's Q1 export metallurgical coal production jumped 31% year on year to 6.1 million mt. The output rose 28% from 4.7 million mt in Q4 2013.
The miner cited improvements in Australian and Canadian underground operations, with longwall cutting hours at Grasstree (Capcoal underground) rising 63% and Moranbah up 33%.
Anglo American said its fiscal 2014 production guidance for Australia and Canada remains unchanged at 18-20 million mt.
Construction work on the greenfield Grosvenor metallurgical coal project in Queensland is nearing 50% completion, according to the company. It said longwall production would start in late 2016 and stay within the $1.95 billion budget.