The Switzerland-based company said the decline in output was mainly due to the disposal of the Mopani mine in Zambia, lower expected copper grades at its Antapaccay operations in Peru, and lower copper byproducts from its mature zinc and nickel mines.

Output of own-sourced copper in Africa fell by 8% year on year to 277,200 mt, driven primarily by Mopani, though in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the electrolytic copper's contribution from Mutanda's limited restart was broadly offset by the severe damage caused by intermittent power outages at Katanga, the company said.

Attributable copper production in South America from the Collahuasi mine in Chile was flat on the year at 277,200 mt in 2021, while 17% more attributable copper was extracted at Antamina in Peru, at 150,000 mt, as production was affected by coronavirus-related mining suspensions during the year.

Year-on-year base copper production from other operations in the region dipped 9% to 235,200 mt as lower grades affected operations at Antapaccay, while Lomas Bayas in Chile temporarily reduced output over short-term leach pad issues, rectified during the quarter.

Own-sourced copper production in Australia dropped 11% year on year to 85,300 mt, impacted by planned changes in mine sequencing at Ernest Henry and incremental mine developments at Cobar.

Full-year 2022 copper production guidance of 1.115 million mt, plus or minus 30,000 mt, remains unchanged, Glencore said.

Production Up for Cobalt, Down for Nickel and Zinc

Production of cobalt sourced by the company increased 14% on the year to 31,300 mt, following the partial restart of Mutanda production in 2021. Glencore put the world’s biggest cobalt mine, Mutanda, on care and maintenance in November 2019 for two years due to rising costs, low cobalt prices, and higher taxes.

Glencore set guidance for full-year 2022 cobalt production at 48,000 mt, plus or minus 3,000 mt.

Due to its lengthy scheduled statutory shutdown and maintenance problems earlier this year with Murrin Murrin operations in Australia, the company's nickel production dropped 7% year on year to 102,300 mt in 2021. Output from Murrin Murrin in 2021 decreased 17% to 30,100 mt.

Nickel production at the company's Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations in Canada sank 3% to 55,200 mt.

At its Koniambo large-scale integrated ferronickel mining and processing complex in New Caledonia, output remained flat year on year at 17,000 mt, after a much improved Q4 2021 performance.

2022 full-year nickel production guidance remained at 115,000 mt, plus or minus 5,000 mt.

Own-production zinc output fell 4% on the year to 1.118 million mt, dragged down by the previously forecast production decline of Kazakhstan’s Maleevsky mine, and the slower-than-expected ramp-up of Zhairem mine tonnage.

The 2022 production guidance for zinc has been set at 1.11 million mt, plus or minus 30,000 mt.

Financial Performance and Investigation

Commenting on the figures, Lord Ashbourne, director of energy and resources at investment research and consultancy Edison Group, added: "2021 was a strong year for Glencore due to recovering demand for its metals and the arrival of a new commodity supercycle."

“It produced an 84% year-on-year rise in adjusted EBITDA to a record $21.3 billion. The 118% increase in Industrial adjusted EBITDA to $17.1 billion was underpinned by the multi-year or record high prices for many of its commodities," Lord Ashbourne said.

Investigation

As previously disclosed, the investigations relate to Glencore’s ongoing cooperation with a number of regulatory and enforcement authorities including the US Department of Justice, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the UK Serious Fraud Office, and the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

The company said it anticipates resolving the investigations and has raised $1.5 billion, which reflects the company’s best current estimate of the costs to resolve those investigations.

“The group anticipates the resolution of long-running corruption investigations by US and UK authorities this year, which is particularly crucial as it delivers a significant headline risk. The prospect of ending the year with resolution is likely to be welcomed, with potential fines and further sanctions weighing on the stock,” Lord Ashbourne said. “They will also be buoyed by the news it would pay $3.4 billion in dividends while including another $550 million share buyback, further sweetening returns for its shareholders.”