Officials claim ‘intermittent illegal strike action’ caused the early 2013 decline London – Arabstoday Miner Anglo American said on Friday that its platinum output dipped in the first quarter of 2013 due partly to industrial action in South Africa. Platinum production slid two percent to 583,000 ounces in the three months to the end of March, compared with the same period a year earlier, Anglo said in a trading update.
It added that output fell partly because of \"intermittent illegal strike action at the underground mines in South Africa (and) lower production at Unki in Zimbabwe.”
Anglo added that first quarter output climbed across most of its commodities including copper, iron ore and diamonds, but coal production was flat and nickel fell.
Production of copper rose one percent to 170,400 tonnes and iron ore gained two percent to 10.3 million tonnes.