Kumba Iron Ore reported increased first-quarter sales as production increased at both its mines in the Northern Cape. Kumba, SA’s largest iron ore miner, is 70% held by Anglo American, which has said it wants to sell its stake in the company as it streamlined its portfolio of mines to focus on platinum, diamonds and copper and selected bulk commodities like metallurgical coal. Anglo is wary of the iron ore market and CEO Mark Cutifani has said Kumba is not big enough to influence prices like the big three of Vale, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. Iron ore prices have fallen steeply in the past month as demand from China slowed. Kumba’s total March quarter output from its Sishen and Kolomela mines increased by 17% to 10.47-million tonnes compared with the sale period a year earlier, but was 12% lower when compared with the final quarter of 2016. The full-year guidance remained unchanged at between 40-million and 42-million tonnes. Total sales for the first quarter were up 3% to 10.89-mill...
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