Rio Tinto has reported flat iron ore output for the June 2012 qtr from a year ago and says it’s on track for 283Mtpa by the end of 2013, despite concerns over cooling growth in top metals consumer China.
The world's second biggest iron ore miner, which recently committed $US3.7B to expand its production capacity by 25%, said even with a deterioration in global economic conditions in the second quarter, its expansion projects still stack up.
The company's quarterly operations review shows iron ore production steady at 48.6Mt in the June qtr, compared with 48.9Mtpa earlier.
Rio Tinto, like its peers, has been hit by slower demand growth in China, its biggest customer and has warned it expects short term conditions to remain volatile amid uncertainty over Europe's woes and a murky outlook for the US recovery.