Glencore remains on track to meet its full-year production guidance

Glencore’s full-year production guidance for 2024 has remained unchanged across all commodities, the company revealed at the release of a third-quarter production report on October 30.

“[This] reflects the additional steelmaking coal volumes that have contributed to our portfolio since closing the Elk Valley Resources (EVR) transaction on July 11,” Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said, referring to the group’s acquisition of 77% of Canadian company Teck’s steelmaking coal business.

During the third quarter, Nagle noted key sequential production improvements across several operations, with African Copper increasing by 6 000 t, up 13% quarter-on-quarter; Antapaccay by 9 000 t, up 35%; Kazzinc by 13 000 t, up 27%; Murrin Murrin by 1 000 t, up 7%; and Australian energy coal by 3.6-million tonnes, up 27%.

Reflecting on Glencore’s marketing performance to date, Nagle added that the company expected its full-year marketing adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to fall within a range of $3-billion to $3.5-billion, at the upper end of Glencore’s long-term guidance range of $2.2-billion to $3.2-billion a year.

In terms of production highlights, own-sourced copper production for the quarter was 705 200 t, marking a 2% decrease from the same period in 2023 when adjusted for the 15 000 t of Cobar volumes sold in June 2023.

Sequential copper production for the third quarter increased by 19 700 t, or 9%, to 242 600 t. Glencore attributed this growth to progressive recovery at Antapaccay after a geotechnical incident in the first half of the year, higher feed grades at Collahuasi and enhanced production levels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Own-sourced cobalt production stood at 26 500 t, down 6 000 t, or 18%, from the same period last year, owing to planned lower production rates at Mutanda in response to weak cobalt pricing, along with reduced throughput and cobalt grades at Kamoto Copper Company.

Zinc production for the quarter reached 643 600 t, representing a 4% decrease, or 28 500 t, compared with the previous year. This reduction primarily reflected decreased output at Antamina, in line with its copper/zinc mine sequence for the year, and the impact of a tropical cyclone at McArthur River in the first quarter.

However, the ramp-up at Zhairem contributed to an additional 38 800 t, with zinc production from the zinc department, excluding Antamina, rising by 5% compared to 2023. Sequential quarterly zinc production increased by 14 800 t, or 7%, to 226 400 t, largely driven by Zhairem’s ramp-up.

Nickel production, at 62 300 t, was down 6 100 t, or 9%, from the prior year, reflecting Koniambo’s shift to care and maintenance. Offsetting this were gains from recovering supply chains at INO and increased output from Murrin Murrin.

When excluding Koniambo, nickel production reached 57 300 t, marking an 18% increase over 2023. Ferrochrome production remained steady at 894 000 t, consistent with the previous year’s output.

Steelmaking coal production for the quarter was recorded at 11.1-million tonnes, of which 5.7-million tonnes were from Canadian steelmaking coal produced since Glencore’s acquisition of EVR, covering 82 days of ownership.

Australian steelmaking coal production modestly exceeded 2023 levels.

Energy coal production, however, dropped by 7% to 73.1-million tonnes compared with the same period in 2023, largely owing to scheduled mine closures, operational shifts in Australia, export rail constraints in South Africa and permitting delays at the Cerrejón mine in Colombia.