Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals plans to produce 785,000-850,000mt of copper and 23,000-27,000mt of nickel in 2021.
Of the total copper production, 300,000-330,000mt is expected from Cobre Panama in South America and 210,000-225,000mt from its Kansanshi mine in Zambia. Copper output at its Sentinal mine is forecast at 230,000-250,000mt and at around 45,000mt from other sites.
The Canadian miner’s consolidated copper output in the first quarter of the year rose to 205,064mt from 195,285mt in Q1 2020, while its nickel production stood at 4,642mt in Q1. First Quantum did not produce nickel in Q1 2020.
Copper sales in the three-month period grew to 210,734mt against 189,953mt in Q1 2020 while its nickel sales in the first quarter tallied at 2,357mt.
The firm’s revenue in the first quarter rose to $1.6bn from $1.1bn in the same period in 2020. The copper producer’s EBITDA rose to $811mn in Q1 2021 from $434mn in the same month in 2020.