Glencore's consolidated own sourced zinc production in the nine months ended September 30 rose 13% on the year to 1.127 million mt, as a result of expansion projects at the Mount Isa and McArthur River operations in Australia, the Switzerland-based commodities group said Wednesday.
The Australian assets produced a combined 600,600 mt during the first three quarters, a 30% spike from the same 2014 period. They accounted for just over a half of Glencore's total zinc output.
Zinc output from Glencore's North America operations shrank 15% year on year to 86,000 mt during the nine-month period, while Kazzinc also reported a 3% fall at 142,000 mt.
Glencore's total lead production amounted to 228,500 mt during January-September, inching up 2% from the corresponding 2014 period.
The group announced in early October production curtailments of 500,000 mt/year of zinc and 100,000 mt/year of lead until prices return to sustainably higher levels. The move will only affect production in future reporting periods, the group noted.
The group's own-sourced nickel production was down 8% on the year to 68,700 mt in the first third quarters of 2015.
The decrease reflects the planned six-week shutdown at the Sudbury smelter in Canada and the use of a greater proportion of third-party feeds to better manage smelter performance, Glencore said.
Vanadium pentoxide production was 15.4 million lb, in line with 15.2 million lb in the 2014 period.
Ferrochrome output attributable to Glencore soared 14% on the year to 1.072 mt during the nine-month period, on the back of a full ramp-up of the Lion 2 smelter in South Africa.
