Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN), the mining and trading company created in a $29 billion deal last year, increased copper production by 24 percent in the first quarter after expansions in Africa and Australia. Output from its own mines was 382,000 metric tons in the three months ended March 31, up from 307,700 tons a year earlier, Baar, Switzerland-based Glencore said today in a statement. Coal output rose 4 percent to 34.1 million tons, lower than expected, after a strike at a mine in Colombia. Source