[miningmx.com] — Merafe Resources on Tuesday reported an 18% drop in third quarter production as weaker market conditions and scheduled maintenance saw the company operating at just above half its capacity.
Attributable production for the three months to end-September 2011 came in at 48,000 tonnes. This compares to production of 58,800 tonnes for the same quarter of 2010.
“In the third quarter of 2011, weaker market conditions and scheduled maintenance during the high electricity tariff winter months, resulted in an operating capacity utilisation of 52%,” the company said in a statement to the JSE.
The fourth quarter European benchmark ferrochrome price was settled at $1.20 per pound, a rollover from $1.20 per pound in the third quarter of 2011, but 10 US cents less than the $1.30 benchmark price for the third quarter of last year.
