Swiss mining behemoth Glencore has released its production figures for the first quarter of the year, revealing a mixed bag of results across its diverse commodities portfolio. The company reported that its copper production fell by 2% to 239,700 tons during the January-March period, primarily due to decreased output in Africa and the divestment of the Cobar mine in Australia. Despite this drop, there were gains in other areas of its mining operations.
Notably, nickel production saw a significant increase of 14%, reaching 23,800 tons. This rise contrasts with cobalt production, which experienced a sharp decline of 37%, totaling only 6,600 tons. On the precious metals front, Glencore reported increases in both gold and silver outputs, with gold production up 7% to 201,000 ounces (approximately 5.7 tons) and silver also rising by 7% to 4.52 million ounces (about 128 tons).
Regionally, copper production in Africa, specifically from the Mutanda mine, dropped by 16% to 51,900 tons. However, production was more robust in South America, with Chile’s Coahuasi mine and Peru’s Antamina mine seeing increases of 13% and 12%, respectively.
In terms of zinc, Australian production dipped by 3% to 125,000 tons, but this was offset by a substantial 30% increase in production at Kazakhstan’s Kazink, totaling 32,300 tons. 
