Following ArcelorMittal South Africa’s (AMSA’s) decision to wind down its steel operations at Saldanha Works, in the Western Cape, Kumba Iron Ore has reduced its iron-ore sales guidance for the full year to between 41.5-million and 42.5-million tonnes.

Initial guidance was set at between 42-million and 43-million tonnes.

Kumba, an Anglo American subsidiary, mines the ferrous metal at the Sishen and Kolomela mines, in the Northern Cape.

The miner’s production guidance for the full year remains unchanged at between 42-million and 43-million tonnes.

Last week, Kumba noted that it would continue to assess the effect of AMSA’s strategic asset footprint review on its domestic iron-ore sales, but noted that export sales contributed 94% of the company’s overall sales.

Kumba’s iron-ore products are considered to be well positioned in global markets with ongoing customer demand and a stable export order book.

Meanwhile, a site visit to various Anglo American operations, including a seminar on its Bulks business, was held in Queensland, Australia, last week. The seminar covered Anglo American’s steelmaking ingredients businesses, including Kumba, the Minas-Rio mine, in Brazil, and the metallurgical (met) coal operations in Australia, as well as the diversified miner’s nickel and export thermal coal operations.

Anglo bulk commodities CEO Seamus French confirmed that Anglo American would be increasing its full-year production guidance for Minas-Rio by a further 10%, with a proportionate decrease in unit costs.

“We believe our iron-ore, met coal and nickel businesses are well set to meet future demand trends, particularly in relation to the high quality of their products,” he commented in a statement.

“Looking forward, we have a disciplined approach to growth within our portfolio, with numerous debottlenecking and life-extension opportunities in the medium term across our iron-ore and met coal assets,” he added.

He noted that, combined with Anglo’s ongoing focus on setting new operational performance benchmarks and the introduction of step change technologies aimed at safety, productivity and a smaller environmental footprint, the miner expected “a strengthening of [its] position and ability to generate leading and sustainable returns”.

In addition to the changes noted, the planned increase in met coal production was pushed back by one year, owing to the phasing in of the wash plant expansion at Moranbah-Grosvenor.