[mine Annual report] Eramet:2019 Comilog Manganese Mine output reached an all-time high of nearly 10%

SMM2, March 27: recently, Eramet released its 2019 full-year results, the company said that in the case of deterioration in the manganese price environment, 2019 EBITDA is 630 million euros, good operating results, sales fell 4% to 3.671 billion euros, manganese ore average price fell 21%.

Manganese accounts for 48% of the group's total sales, down 5% from 2018 to 1.765 billion euros. Despite a significant increase in ore production (+ 10 per cent) ore and alloy market prices fell and EBITDA fell 29 per cent to 560 million euros.

Despite the slowdown in growth in the second half of the year, global production of carbon steel, the main end market for manganese, rose 3.6 per cent to a record in 2019. This growth was almost entirely driven by strong Chinese demand (supported by the construction and infrastructure markets, which grew 8.3 per cent, accounting for 53 per cent of global production), production declined in the rest of the world (- 1.3 per cent), most notably the European market fell sharply (- 5.1 per cent), while the Indian market was on an upward trend (+ 1.8 per cent).

In response to rising ore consumption, and given that manganese ore prices remained high in the first nine months of the year, all producers continued to operate at full capacity, leaving a slight surplus in the balance between supply and demand in fiscal 2019. In 2019, the market environment for manganese alloys remained unfavourable, and manganese alloys were adversely affected by the economic slowdown in Europe, on the one hand, related to the sudden decline in the car market, on the other hand, it was related to the protectionist measures taken by the United States, which was affecting steel production in Europe. The price of manganese alloy in Europe fell, especially the price of refined manganese iron (- 7%) and silicon manganese (- 5%).

In Gabon, Comilog's ore production hit a new record of 4.8m tonnes in 2019, up 10 per cent from 2018, well above the target of 4.5m tonnes set in 2019. This outstanding performance reflects improvements in the continuous operation of the mine and is in line with CSR standards. This is due to the new dry ore processing process, which began at the end of 2018, during which about 0.5 tons of ore were extracted.

As a result of improved logistics, manganese ore production and transport increased by 17 per cent to 4.6 million tons, and external ore sales increased by 15 per cent to 3.9 million tons. The refurbishment plan for the Transgabonese railway has shown signs of success, with global freight traffic (mining and others) increasing by 22 per cent in 2019 (70 per cent since the plan was launched at the end of 2016), benefiting all Gabonese economic stakeholders. 2019 marked a key milestone in the establishment of a new traffic control centre equipped with digital communications resources and mobile trains.

Manganese alloy production totaled 740 kilotons in 2019 (an increase of 3 percent over 2018). Driven by standard alloys, sales rose 4 per cent to 733 kilotons (up 16 per cent from 2018), while sales of refined Ferro-manganese alloys were down 8 per cent from 2018, due to a sharp decline in the market. This adverse combination and the tightening of profits on manganese alloys, particularly due to the downward trend in sales prices, have adversely affected the performance of this activity.

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