Australia floods hit Anglo American's coal output

Mining giant Anglo American today said coal output from its Australian operations dropped nearly 40 per cent in the first quarter after severe floods.

Echoing comments from rival BHP Billiton yesterday, Iron ore and copper also suffering expected hits from freak weather.

Iron ore, down 19 per cent, and copper, where output dropped 14 per cent again due to high rainfall and expected lower grades, are the Anglo-South African group's AGLJ.J most profitable products.

Anglo, the world's fifth-biggest diversified miner, said output of metallurgical coal, used for steelmaking, dropped to 2.1 million tonnes after record rainfall.

Australia's Queensland state lost up to 30 million tonnes of coal production when monsoonal rains and a cyclone battered the eastern seaboard between November and February.

"All operations are producing again with a ramp-up to full production expected in the second quarter," the miner said in its statement.

"A number of initiatives are in progress for the remainder of 2011 to mitigate the production shortfall from Q1," it added.

Iron ore production dropped to 9.9 million tonnes due to wet pit conditions, while copper production dropped to 138,800 tonnes.