Diverse miner Glencore produced 124.9 million mt of coal during 2016, falling 5% year on year, primarily due to the divestment of Optimum Coal in South Africa, the company said Thursday.

The company said in its 2016 production report that South African export thermal coal output for the year fell 13% from 2015 to 17.2 million mt, while domestic output from its mines in the country dropped 30% to 12.1 million mt. Glencore disposed of Optimum Coal to Tegeta Exploration & Resources in April after having started business rescue proceedings in early August last year. It also closed some smaller mines in the country during the year.

Australian export thermal coal production for 2016 was steady on the year at 52.5 million mt, while Australian domestic production climbed 44% to 5.6 million mt, the miner said.

The miner attributed this to planned increases at the Mangoola, Rolleston and Ravensworth North mines and improved production at South Blakefield, which had experienced “geological challenges” in 2015.

Its Australian mines produced 10% less coking coal during the year at 5.3 million mt due to geological issues at the Oaky Creek mine earlier in the year, with semi-soft coal output up 17% on-year to 4.2 million mt.

In Colombia, heavy rainfall resulted in thermal coal production from Glencore’s Prodeco mine dropping 2% on-year to 17.3 million mt.

Its 33.3% pro-rata share of production from the Cerrejon mine for the year was 10.7 million mt, 4% lower from 2015, also due to weather-related disruptions.

Glencore said it planned to produce around 135 million mt of coal in 2017.

Source: Platts