THE pressure is on Kumba Iron Ore which said in a third quarter production report today that it would miss its forecast 40 million tonnes (mt) export full-year target owing to a reduction in output from its flagship Sishen mine.

Whether this will be giving Anglo American CEO, Mark Cutifani, sleepless nights is not a certainty, however, as Kumba Iron Ore CEO, Norman Mbazima, suggested at the firm's interim results that full-year exports would probably be in the region of 37mt.

It's also thought that an out-performance at Kumba Iron Ore's new mine, Kolomela, would actually be helpful to margins. Kolomela was on target to produce 10mt in the 2013 financial year, Kumba said.

Nonetheless, Cutifani was unambivalent in July this year about operations that slipped beneath budgeted targets, or unperformed.

Anglo reported a 28% decline in underlying interim earnings of $1.3bn in July, while at $3.8bn its operating profit was 15% lower year-on-year - a performance Cutifani said he was determined to remedy. As such, any operation threatening to produce three successive quarterly targets failures could expect to answer questions.

Only 11% of the business had met operational targets worth $1.4bn to $1.7bn in cash flow contribution in the first half of the year, Cutifani said as he made a stirring debut in front of sceptical UK analysts.

Kumba Iron Ore, described as among Anglo American's best assests, said total export volumes fell 5% year-on-year in the third (September) quarter and 7% compared to the previous quarter.

This was owing to a 34% reduction in Sishen output and the effect of an annual maintenance shut-down of the rail line and port by Transnet. The losses were partially offset by Kolomela output gains.

Export sales volumes for 2013 are anticipated to be lower than the previously guided 40mt and are dependent on production levels," said Kumba Iron Ore today. Shares in the Johannesburg-listed firm were down just over 5%.

Kumba said the quarterly run rate was about eight million tonnes from Sishen which had been affected by the availability of material supplied to the mine's plants and Section 54 stoppages related to trackless mobile machinery.

"A plan to address the current pit constraints and a longer term operational strategy is expected to be presented by the end of the year," it said. Kumba Iron Ore said at its interim results that it had export rail capacity of 42mtpa. It exported 39.7mt in its previous 2012 financial year.

It's been a quarter of ups and downs for Kumba. On September 27, the company said it was resuming discussions with ArcelorMittal SA regarding an out-of-arbitration iron ore supply agreement. If consummated, the agreement would end a two-year standoff, and provide much-needed security on future revenue streams.

On October 15, however, Kumba Iron Ore delivered the unsettling news that it could re-state its reserves at Sishen as it waited for the award of a mining licence over the western part of its property into which it wanted to expand.

Anglo American's investment in its 85% owned De Beers continued to show dividends with the diamond producer increasing production by 21% to 7.7 million carats, primarily owing to the Jwaneng mine recovering fully from the slope failure in June 2012.

Diamonds were a star performer for Anglo at the interim stage as De Beers more than doubled its operating profit to $571m, some 15% of Anglo's total operating profit.

Copper production also increased in the third quarter. Output was up 32% to 207,300 tonnes, with 22% higher production at Los Bronces and a 130% increase at Collahuasi, Anglo American said in its quarterly update. Shares in Anglo American were just over 2% weaker in London following the third quarter production update.