Anglo American sees stronger production, lower costs for 2021

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Anglo American's production, across all minerals, will increase by 14% in 2021, the miner said on Friday in its annual update to investors, while unit costs are expected to decrease by 3%.

The global miner said capital expenditure would be between $5.7 billion and $6.2 billion next year, reflecting deferred 2020 spending and new investments. Unit costs for 2020 fell 2% despite the impact on production of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anglo American expects to deliver output volume growth of 20-25% over the next three to five years, with the Quellaveco project in Peru producing its first copper in 2022.

The miner, which has been under intensifying pressure to dispose of its coal assets, said it expects to exit its South African thermal coal operations within 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years.

Anglo American, which produces gold, platinum, copper, diamonds, iron ore, and coal, said it expects to produce between 640,000 and 680,000 tonnes of copper in 2021, and gave a new forecast for 2023 production of 890,000 to 1 million tonnes.

The miner also trimmed its thermal coal production outlook from 26 million tonnes to 24 million tonnes for next year.

(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Tanisha Heiberg and Barbara Lewis)