Antofagasta 3Q Production Rises 3% on Quarter; Cuts 2017 Cost Guidance

By Adam Clark

Antofagasta PLC (ANTO.LN) said Wednesday that its third-quarter production increased by 3% on the previous quarter, and cut its cash-cost expectation for the full year.

The Chile-focused miner said its copper production in the quarter came to 180,200 metric tons, up 3.3% from the previous quarter. Copper production for the first nine months of 2017 was 526,500 tons, up 4.5% on the year before.

Antofagasta maintained its 2017 guidance for total production of 685,000 tons to 720,000 tons of copper, and said that it expects this to increase to between 705,000 tons and 740,000 tons in 2018.

Meanwhile, gold production came to 59,600 ounces in the third quarter, up 1.2% from the prior quarter. However, nine-month gold production is down 4.4% at 171,800 ounces.

Molybdenum production for the quarter came to 2,700 tons, a rise of 13% from the prior quarter. Nine-month production rose 39% to 7,200 tons.

Antofagasta also said it now expects its full-year net cash costs to be below its original guidance of $1.30 a pound. Third-quarter net cash costs came to $1.18 a pound, a rise of 1.7% from the previous quarter due to increased byproduct volumes and realized prices, Antofagasta said. Nine-month net cash costs stood at $1.22 a pound, an improvement of 0.8% on the previous year, the company said.

Before byproduct credits, cash costs for the third quarter were $1.56 a pound, 1.3% higher than the prior quarter. Nine-month cash costs before byproduct credits were $1.56 a pound, improved by 1.3% from the previous year, Antofagasta added.

Write to Adam Clark at [e-mail]; @AdamDowJones

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2017 02:59 ET (06:59 GMT)

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