Xstrata loosens the purse strings

Average realised prices for Australian coking coal and LME nickel were down by 25 and 23 per cent respectively on 2011, while the strength of local producer currencies against the greenback - most notably those of Australia and Canada - pushed up material prices and wage costs. This fed through into a 30 per cent fall in 2012 cash profits to $8.1bn (£5.4bn), achieved on a margin of 26 per cent (34 per cent in 2011).

Impairment charges helped drive profits after tax down to $1.37bn from $5.9bn, although that didn't stop Xstrata's management rewarding shareholders with a hefty dividend hike. Xstrata wrote down $978m from valuations chiefly linked to the Brunswick zinc mine in Canada, the Cosmos nickel mine in Australia and its Eland operations. Ongoing industrial strife in South Africa precipitated an $840m write-down on the group's stake in platinum producer Lonmin (LMI).

There were mixed fortunes of the operational front. Copper production declined by 16 per cent from 2011, as Xstrata moved from older mine workings, although the group did manage to boost total consolidated coal production by 7.2 per cent to 90.4m tonnes.