(Adds analyst view, share price)
LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Anglo American's overall first-quarter production rose 9% from a year earlier,
helped by a 28% jump in copper output from the ramp-up of its
Quellaveco mine in Peru and improvement in its steelmaking coal
operations, it said on Tuesday.
The London-listed miner said it produced 178,000 tonnes of
copper in the quarter to March, and reported a 59% jump in
steelmaking coal output to 3.5 million tonnes.
Copper production, however, came below analysts'
expectations and was down from the previous quarter, due to
lower grades at Chilean mines Los Bronces and Collahuasi. The
company left its full-year production and unit cost guidance
unchanged.
"With mixed results and no change to production and cost
guidance, we do not expect meaningful changes to consensus
earnings estimates for 2023," Citi analysts said in a note.
Anglo's share price was down 2% by 0742 GMT, in line with
its peers.
Rough diamond production via its global giant De Beers
remained flat at 8.9 million carats over the period, partly due
to the transition of its Venetia mine in South Africa from open
pit to a new underground section.
De Beers jointly owns Africa's largest diamond producer
Debswana with Botswana, although the country is exploring other
options outside their 54 year-old partnership.
The two partners are currently in talks to renew a 2011
sales and marketing agreement which entitles De Beers to 75% of
the production from Debswana.
(Reporting by Clara Denina and Muhammed Husain; Editing by
Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Kirsten Donovan and Bernadette Baum)
