Rio Tinto has posted record iron ore production for the June 2012 half and remains on track for 283Mtpa from its Pilbara operations in Western Australia by the end of 2013 and 353Mtpa by the first half 2015.
Copper, bauxite, alumina, coking coal and titanium dioxide production were also all higher than the 2nd qtr 2011.
CEO Tom Albanese says Rio is “keeping a close eye on the pace of the US recovery, the continuing Eurozone crisis and the impact of efforts to stimulate the Chinese economy on the markets that we serve. Our investment programme remains resilient to this market volatility.”
First half iron ore production of 120Mt (94Mt attributable) and shipments of 115Mt were both 4% higher than the 1st half of 2011, with global production for the qtr a flat 62Mt (49Mt attributable).
Rio recently announced further investments to advance the expansion of its industry leading Pilbara iron ore business and further progress the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
Mined copper was 5% higher than 2nd qtr 2011, primarily driven by improvements and higher copper grades at Escondida, Chile. Bauxite and alumina production were 8% and 5% higher, but aluminium was 12% lower primarily reflecting the shutdown of two-thirds of capacity at Alma, due to a since resolved labour dispute.
Hard coking coal production was 13% higher than the 2nd qtr 2011, thermal coal was flat and titanium dioxide feedstock production increased 5%.