ZURICH -- Reaching 1.5 million tons, Glencore Xstrata (IW 1000/11) said on Tuesday that its copper production rose by 26% in 2013 from output the previous year.
Copper is a key measure of the health of the commodities sector, and the Swiss-based group said that output growth was driven by mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chile, Peru and Australia.
Zinc production fell by 9% to 1.39 million tons owing to the end of mining at sites in Australia and Canada, but that falling trend was set to halt this year thanks to projects in Australia and Africa, the group said.
Production of lead also fell by 2% to 315,000 tons, while nickel output dropped by 4.0 percent to 98,400 tons.
Glencore Xstrata's gold production was robust, however, increasing by 14% to just over one million ounces, fuelled by mines in Kazakhstan and Peru.
The group is also a major player in the energy sector, and saw coal production increase by 4% to 138 million tons thanks to expanding operations in Colombia and Australia.
The group came into being with a mega merger in May 2013 between commodities giant Glencore and mining company Xstrata, both of which were already based in Switzerland.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
