Kazakhmys shares rise after copper output beats estimates
Kazakhmys jumped as much as 6.2 percent to 267 pence, the largest gain since Aug. 12, and was at 263.4 pence at 10:21 a.m. The company produced 70,600 metric tons of copper cathode, the finished form of the metal, in the third quarter and 214,900 tons in the first nine months, it said in a statement today.
The quarterly volume is higher than "our estimate of 64,200 tons, reflecting a higher-than-expected average mined grade," Fawzi Hanano, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London, said in a report. Kazakhmys said it's heading for the higher end of its full-year target of 285,000 tons to 295,000 tons. "We believe the company is on track to slightly exceed this guidance, given the third quarter beat," Hanano said.
The average copper grade in the ore extracted by Kazakhmys rose to 1 percent in the third quarter from 0.9 percent a year earlier, it said in the statement. London-based Kazakhmys is seeking to reduce production costs to counter declining metal prices, which are capping profits in the mining industry. Copper prices have declined 9.5 percent this year, Kazinform refers to Bloomberg.
Kazakhmys is set to increase copper output in the final quarter because it hasn't processed all the ore extracted in the previous three months, John Smelt, a spokesman, said in a phone interview. Copper concentrate production was 78,700 tons in the third quarter while copper cathode output was 70,600 tons.
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