....Nickel production declined 9% to 43,700 tons and was impacted by a scheduled
statutory maintenance outage at the Kalgoorie Nickel Smelter and Yabulu in
Australia and Cerro Matoso in Colombia. The Ravensthorpe project in Australia
was commissioned in the December quarter, in line with the revised schedule and
under approved capital budget. However, the start up of operations at
Ravensthorpe and Line 2 at Yabulu adversely impacted earnings by US$132 million
for the half year ended December 2007. For the six months, nickel production
decreased 11% to 82,300 tons. Production of manganese ore increased 5% to 1.61
million tons from a year ago, while production of manganese alloy in the quarter climbed 12% to 209,000 tons. Production of manganese alloy benefited from strong production at Samancor and TEMCO in Australia, with Samancor achieving a
quarterly record. The company noted that the Gemco project in Australia was
sanctioned during the quarter. For the half year, production of manganese ore
improved 1% to 3.06 million tons, while production of manganese alloy climbed
12% to 393,000 tons. Metallurgical coal production in the quarter improved 8% to
9.64 million tons from a year ago despite the impact of planned and unplanned
interruptions and unseasonal wet weather experienced at Queensland Coal in
Australia. For the six months, production of metallurgical coal grew 6% to 19.22
million tons from the prior-year period.
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