Eramet, a global mining group, reported an adjusted turnover of EUR 761 million for the first quarter of 2024, marking a 19% decrease compared to the same period last year. This decline was primarily due to a significant 24% drop in prices, although this was partially offset by a 2% increase in volumes.
Operational highlights for Q1 include a 27% increase in manganese ore volumes sold from Gabon and a substantial 52% increase in nickel ore volumes produced in Indonesia. However, sales of nickel ore in Indonesia fell by 17%, impacted by the ongoing assessment of a commercialization permit by the Indonesian government. Sales of zircon and ilmenite from Senegal also saw increases of 52% and 36%, respectively.
Despite these volume gains, the company experienced a strong decline in selling prices across its products compared to the first quarter of 2023. Additionally, the company has neutralized the debt of SLN, its subsidiary, in its consolidated accounts, and revised its group mineral resources upwards as of January 1, 2024, including a 52% increase in lithium resources in Argentina and a 19% increase in nickel resources in Indonesia.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2024, Eramet expects the market environment to remain subdued, although there are signs of improvement in price levels as of the start of the second quarter. The company anticipates that high-grade manganese ore prices will significantly increase due to a prolonged halt in exports from Australia, which could have a substantial impact on Eramet's financial performance.
For 2024, Eramet has set volume growth targets for its main mining activities. These include transporting between 7.0 and 7.7 million tonnes of manganese ore in Gabon, producing between 40 and 50 million wet metric tonnes of marketable nickel ore in Indonesia, and producing between 5 and 7 thousand tonnes of lithium carbonate in Argentina.
The company's financial performance for the first half of 2024 is expected to be significantly below that of the second half, due to unfavorable seasonality and the current price scenario. Eramet continues to implement strict cost control measures and has confirmed a controlled capital expenditure plan that includes the continuation of growth projects, with an expected investment of between EUR 700 million to EUR 750 million in 2024.
