South32’s share price fell 3.4% to R28.57 on Thursday morning after its June quarter production report showed declines in nearly all of the minerals it produces. This was the fourth quarter of its financial year, and of the 10 minerals South32 segments its results into, all but two showed production declines for the year to end-June. The mining group unbundled from BHP in 2015 reported a 27% drop in silver production, a 24% drop in lead production, a 19% drop in metallurgical coal production and an 11% drop in zinc production from the prior financial year. The only two minerals with increased production were manganese ore at 5% and aluminium at 2%. South32 listed record performance of its aluminium smelters in Mozambique as one of the highlights of its financial year. "We delivered record annual production at Mozal Aluminium and stronger aluminium volumes overall as both of our smelters continued to operate at their maximum technical capability," South32 CEO Graham Kerr said in the ...

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