Kumba’s Sishen mine lifts Q1 output by 31%

Improved mining productivity contributed to a 31% year-on-year increase in the Sishen mine’s output for the quarter ended March 31, to 7.7-million tonnes. “Production, however, decreased 10% [year-on-year] as the fourth quarter of 2016 benefitted from greater access to low strip ratio ore. Waste removal of 34-million tonnes was hampered by higher-than-expected rainfall during the first quarter; however, mining rates improved in the latter part of the quarter,” Kumba Iron Ore said in a statement on Monday.