South32’s third-quarter manganese production falls 7%

Australia’s South32 logged lower third-quarter manganese ore production on Monday, hurt by the temporary suspension of operations at its Groote Eylandt Mining Co (GEMCO) unit in the Gulf of Carpentaria due to tropical cyclone Megan.

The world’s largest producer of manganese, the additive that makes steel strong, clocked manganese ore production of 1.2 million wet metric tons (wmt) for the quarter ended March 31, compared with 1.3 million wmt a year earlier. That compares with a Morgan Stanley estimate of about 1.1 million wmt.