(Adds further details on production results throughout)
Oct 21 (Reuters) - Australia's South32 on Monday posted a sharp decline in first-quarter manganese output as its Australia operations for the commodity recorded nil production amid an ongoing recovery plan post a cyclone in March.
The world's biggest producer of manganese logged 597,000 wet metric tons (wmt) of the steel additive for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from 1.5 million wmt from a year earlier.
That compares with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of about 527,900 wmt.
The diversified miner's Groote Eylandt Mining Co (GEMCO) project, part of its Australia Manganese division, has been suspended since mid-March after a category two tropical cyclone, Megan, wreaked havoc in northern Australia, significantly damaging its critical infrastructure at the site.
The Australia Manganese division produced 645,000 mt of manganese in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, before its operations were temporarily suspended.
The company's South Africa Manganese division produced 597,000 wmt of manganese for the quarter, contributing to the entirety of the company's manganese production.
(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri & Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Aurora Ellis)
((Sherin.Sunny@thomsonreuters.com;))
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