Export thermal coal production from Anglo American’s South African and Colombian mines rose 5% to 8.6-million tons in the three months to December 31.

LSE- and JSE-listed Anglo American says that the fourth-quarter thermal coal produc- tion from the South African operations, headed by CEO Norman Mbazima, is up quarter-on-quarter, in line with the corresponding fourth quarter of 2010.

The new Zibulo operation, which will supply coal to South Africa’s electricity utility, Eskom, has been in commercial production for the past three months.

The Cerrejon mine, in Colombia, has reached its theoretical production capacity of 32- million tons a year for the first time, thanks to fewer weather-related stoppages.

Manganese ore production was 11% lower than in the third quarter at 722 000 t because of planned maintenance at Hotazel manganese mines in South Africa and lower plant availability owing to wet weather at Gemco, in Australia.

Manganese alloys production of 78 000 t from South Africa and Australia was 1% up.

Liberum Capital’s Dominic O’Kane, which has Anglo stock as a “buy”, says production is broadly in line with estimates, except for platinum and diamonds, where production was slightly lower than expected, and metallurgical coal, where production was surprisingly far higher.

The metallurgical coal business, headed by Seamus French, delivered record production from its Australian opencut metallurgical coal operations, resulting in a 4% increase in metal- lurgical coal production to 4.1-million tons.

Diamond production decreased by 24% to 6.5-million carats, following De Beers’ deliberate focus on increasing waste stripping, as well as undertaking scheduled maintenance at the Botswana and South African operations in the face of short-term global macroeconomic volatility.

Refined platinum production decreased by 19% to 710 000 oz, mainly owing to lower mine production and the processing of lower-grade surface stockpiles.

The high number of safety stoppages also forced down equivalent refined platinum production by 9% to 583 200 oz, which was offset by a strong performance at Mogalakwena’s north pit and full ramp-up at Unki mine.

Iron-ore production increased by 5% to 12.4-million tons because of production from the new nine-million-ton-a-year Kolomela mine in South Africa and continued better performance at Amapá, in Brazil.

Copper production increased 10% to 170 000 t, and by 22% quarter-on-quarter as a result of the commissioning of the Los Bronces expansion and higher ore grades at Los Bronces, Collahuasi and the El Soldado operations in Chile.

Nickel production increased 125% to 9 900 t as Barro Alto continued to ramp up in Brazil.

Anglo spent $539-million on exploration across all business units, an increase of 51% on 2010.

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