Glencore Plc (LON:GLEN) has announced its Half-Year Production Report 2026.
Glencore Chief Executive Officer, Gary Nagle:
“We are pleased to report a strong production performance for the first six months of the year, where our key assets largely performed in line with expectations and previously communicated guidance. Quarter on quarter, own sourced production volumes were higher in zinc, nickel, gold, steelmaking coal and energy coal.
“Full year 2026 production guidance for copper, zinc and nickel remains unchanged, while the mid-points of energy and steelmaking coal guidance are up by 1Mt and down by 1Mt, respectively. Maintaining our original copper and zinc guidance, despite completion of the Kidd mine sale on 1 June 2026, with its corresponding rest-of-year loss of c.20kt and c.11kt of zinc and copper respectively, implies a like-for-like upgrade in the guidance mid-points for these two commodities.
“In our Marketing segment, we expect to report a strong half-year Marketing Adjusted EBIT of c.$3.3 billion.”
Production from own sources – Total1
| H1 2026 | H1 2025 | Change % | ||
| Copper | kt | 397.0 | 343.9 | 15 |
| Cobalt | kt | 10.2 | 18.9 | (46 ) |
| Zinc | kt | 365.6 | 465.2 | (21 ) |
| Lead | kt | 83.8 | 90.9 | (8) |
| Nickel | kt | 35.8 | 36.6 | (2 ) |
| Gold | koz | 168 | 301 | (44 ) |
| Silver | koz | 9,306 | 9,097 | 2 |
| Chrome ore | kt | 1,647 | 1,717 | (4) |
| Steelmaking coal | mt | 13.5 | 15.7 | (14) |
| Energy coal | mt | 47.4 | 48.3 | (2) |
1. Controlled industrial assets and joint ventures only. Production is on a 100% basis, except as stated later in this report.
H1 production highlights
· Own sourced copper production of 397,000 tonnes was 53,100 tonnes (15%) above H1 2025, reflecting various higher contributions across the portfolio, primarily due to increased mining rates and improved grades at African Copper (55,000 tonnes) and higher grades at Antamina (27,700 tonnes), partly offset by the planned closure of the Mount Isa copper mine in July 2025 (20,400 tonnes).
· Own sourced cobalt production of 10,200 tonnes was 8,700 tonnes (46%) below H1 2025, primarily reflecting the DRC government’s ongoing cobalt export quota regime, with operating activities requiring careful consideration of quota allocations, whereby prioritisation and focus is given to copper production. In this context, cobalt contained in mixed ore is increasingly being held in solution, rather than processed and dried into saleable cobalt in hydroxides. This material will ultimately be processed and sold at a later date, as export regulations evolve.
· Own sourced zinc production of 365,600 tonnes was 99,600 tonnes (21%) lower than H1 2025, primarily reflecting Lady Loretta’s end of mine life in late 2025 (51,000 tonnes) and lower zinc grades at Antamina (39,200 tonnes), in line with its current higher copper/lower zinc grade phasing. The decrease also reflects the disposal of the Kidd mine in Canada on 1 June 2026.
· Own sourced nickel production of 35,800 tonnes was broadly in line with H1 2025.
· Attributable chrome ore production of 1,647,000 tonnes was 70,000 tonnes (4%) lower than H1 2025, reflecting the operating conditions over the period.
· Steelmaking coal production of 13.5 million tonnes was 2.2 million tonnes (14%) below H1 2025, due to lower EVR production, primarily reflecting lower throughput and yields, which are expected to normalise in H2 2026, somewhat offset by higher Australian volumes.
· Energy coal production of 47.4 million tonnes was 0.9 million tonnes (2%) lower than H1 2025, primarily reflecting the impact of the voluntary production curtailment implemented at Cerrejón from Q2 2025 in response to market conditions.
2026 production guidance
· Production guidance is largely unchanged from previous guidance.
| Actual FY | Previous guidance | Current guidance | 2026 weighting | ||||||||
| 2025 | 2026 | 2026 | H1 | H2 | |||||||
| Copper | kt | 851.6 | 810-870 | 810-870 | 1 | 47% | 53% | ||||
| Zinc | kt | 969.4 | 700-740 | 700-740 | 1 | 51% | 49% | ||||
| Nickel | kt | 71.9 | 70-80 | 70-80 | 48% | 52% | |||||
| Steelmaking coal | mt | 32.5 | 30-34 | 30-32 | 2 | 44% | 56% | ||||
| Energy coal | mt | 98.0 | 95-100 | 96-101 | 48% | 52% | |||||
1 Disposal of the Kidd mine completed on 1 June 2026. Zinc and copper production previously assumed from this mine for the 7 month period from June to December 2026 was c.20kt and c.11kt respectively. FY 2026 guidance has not been adjusted for the disposal, implying an effective equivalent like-for-like upgrade in FY 2026 mid-point guidances for these two commodities.
2 On an annualised basis, <2% of EVR’s production is non-steelmaking quality coal, ordinarily sold into energy coal markets. Given the de minimis size, these volumes are not disaggregated from Canadian steelmaking coal volumes.
The overall weighting of FY 2026 production guidance toward H2 reflects a stronger expected H2 volume profile as follows:
· Copper production guidance includes a higher H2 weighting at Collahuasi, reflecting higher expected recoveries from primary ore and an improved mining performance.
· Overall zinc production guidance was not materially impacted by the May 2026 incident at Kazzinc’s Ust-Kamenogorsk zinc dust collection unit.
· Steelmaking coal’s production guidance range has been modestly reduced. The weighting towards H2 reflects completion of the H1 longwall move at Oaky Creek in Australia, together with pit sequencing in Canada, with higher yields expected in H2.
· Energy coal production guidance has been modestly increased. The higher than previously guided actual production in H1 (c. 3mt) mainly relates to improved performances across the Australian portfolio.
Estimated H1 unit costs
| H1 2026 | H1 2025 | ||||
| Copper – net unit cash costs1 | c/lb | 208.4 | 240.6 | ||
| Streaming impact | c/lb | (22.2) | (5.9) | ||
| Divisional overheads | c/lb | (2.3) | (9.6) | ||
| Copper operating assets – net unit cash cost | c/lb | 183.9 | 225.1 | ||
| Africa | c/lb | 221.8 | 353.4 | ||
| South America | c/lb | 160.8 | 168.2 | ||
| Zinc2 | c/lb | (8.5) | 2.3 | ||
| Steelmaking coal3 | $/t | 127.0 | 108.4 | ||
| Energy coal3 | $/t | 76.1 | 65.0 | ||
1. Net unit cash cost after by-product credits, excluding costs expensed and associated with the MARA, El Pachon and New Range development projects. The significant reduction in copper net unit cash cost (H1 2026 vs H1 2025) positively reflects the copper department’s additional 78.6kt of copper production, partially offset by higher overall input costs due to the Middle East conflict, mainly relating to diesel, sulphuric acid, sulphur and freight. These impacts were heavily weighted towards the African copper business, which, in addition, did not benefit from record low TC/RCs and managed its production around prioritisation of copper at the expense of lower cobalt production.
2. Net unit cash cost after by-product credits
3. FOB unit cash cost
H1 realised prices
Key metals
Realised | LME (average 6 months) $/t | Difference % | ||||
| ¢/lb | $/t | |||||
| Copper | 576 | 12,704 | 13,084 | (3) | ||
| Zinc | 149 | 3,284 | 3,349 | (2) | ||
| Nickel | 804 | 17,718 | 17,708 | – | ||
Coal
| H1 2026 $/t | H1 2025 $/t | |||
| Steelmaking coal: average prime hard coking coal (PHCC) settlement price | 236.8 | 184.7 | ||
| Steelmaking coal: portfolio mix adjustment1 | (29.9 ) | (17.6 ) | ||
| Steelmaking coal: average realised price2 | 206.9 | 167.1 | ||
| Energy coal: average Newcastle coal (NEWC) settlement price | 127.9 | 102.5 | ||
| Energy coal: portfolio mix adjustment3 | (34.0) | (23.9) | ||
| Energy coal: average realised price4 | 93.9 | 78.6 |
1. Component of our regular cash flow modelling guidance, mainly reflecting movements in pricing of non-PHCC quality coals
2. Average quality-adjusted realised price to be applied across all H1 2026 steelmaking coal sales volumes
3. Component of our regular cash flow modelling guidance, mainly reflecting movements in the pricing of non-NEWC quality coals
4. Average quality-adjusted realised price to be applied across all H1 2026 energy coal sales volumes (including semi-soft)
