Heavy snowfall in Chile forces Anglo American to cut annual copper output

Anglo American shares plunged when it lowered its annual copper output forecast due to heavy snowfall at the Los Bronces mine in Chile, and also saw a decline in production of almost all of its mining products.

Anglo American said the annual copper output will be in the range of 570,000 to 600,000 tonnes this year, up from a forecast of 630,000 tonnes. Production from Los Bronces, located at 3,500 meters in the Andes Mountains, 65km northeast of Chile's capital Santiago, fell 22% to 75,600 tonnes in the second quarter compared to 2015. The mine yield is approximately 7% of the South American nation's total annual copper production.

Anglo also lowered its annual forecast for Brazilian iron ore to 15-17 million tons from 15-18 million tons. The surge in Minas Rio production failed to offset the 21% drop in Kumba Iron Ore output, causing the company's total iron ore production to fall 4% to 24.6 million tonnes in the six months of 2016 from 25.6 million tonnes in the same period last year.