Anglo American shares slip as bad weather takes shine off copper target
Anglo American cut its annual target for copper output today, after severe winter weather chilled the miner’s operation in Chile.
Its full-year guidance for copper output was slashed to between 570,000 and 600,000 tonnes for 2016, down from as much as 630,000 tonnes. The 2017 target was also revised lower.
This year's output target for iron ore mined in Brazil was also cut to between 15m and 17m tonnes, down from as much as 18m.
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The company is pulling back from the embattled iron ore and coal markets to focus on more profitable commodities such as copper, diamonds and platinum. Mark Cutifani, chief executive of Anglo American, said today that he maintained a "cautious outlook".
Its shares fell as much as 8.22 per cent to 746.70p per share this morning. However, they're still up around 150 per cent year-to-date.
Analysts said they remained confident that the miner would meet most of its targets this year.
"Overall we view this set of production results as a slight negative near term, but we remain confident the company will hit its guidance across most commodities," analysts Tim Huff and Nick Hatch at broker Canaccord Genuity wrote in a note.
Copper output slipped eight per cent to 144,200 tonnes in the second quarter ended 30 June, while diamond production fell 19 per cent to 6.4 metric carats during this period.
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Iron ore output from Kumba in South Africa slipped 15 per cent to 8.9m metric tonnes, but it jumped 91 per cent to 3.5m metric tonnes at its project in Brazil which is in ramp up mode.
Platinum production ticked up one per cent to 586,000 ounces, while nickel output jumped 76 per cent to 11,100 tonnes.
Anglo is due to reports its earnings next week.