Rio Tinto going flat out

13th Oct 2011 07:31

Mining behemoth Rio Tinto set new quarterly records for iron ore sales and hard coking coal production in the third quarter, as Mother Nature eased up on the firm's mining operations."Whilst we are mindful of current market volatility, the fundamentals are holding up well, particularly for bulk-traded commodities," reported chief executive, Tom Albanese. "We are operating at full capacity, selling all we produce and our growth programme is on track, supported by the strength of our balance sheet," Albanese added.Global iron ore production in the third quarter was 64m tonnes, of which 50m tonnes was attributable to Rio Tinto. This was a 5% improvement on output in the corresponding quarter of 2010, and the attributable production was marginally ahead of the 49.6m tonnes predicted by Credit Suisse. Year-to-date iron ore production totalled 179m tonnes (141m tonnes attributable), up 3% on the first nine months of last year.Third quarter sales of 60m tonnes of iron ore set a new quarterly record as rail and port infrastructure recovered strongly from the rough weather experienced earlier in the year.In 2011, Rio Tinto expects to produce in excess of 240 million tonnes of iron ore (on a 100% attributable basis) from its global operations in Australia and Canada, subject to weather constraints.Copper production was down at most locations, however. At the Kennecott Utah Copper site, mill throughput was interrupted by a scheduled move of the in-pit crusher, while at Escondida production was interrupted by a work stoppage. In 2011, Rio Tinto's share of mined and refined copper production is expected to be 522 thousand tonnes and 337 thousand tonnes, respectively.As for the aluminium industry, Rio Tinto warned that cost pressures are returning to the industry as a result of stronger currencies, plus the higher costs of caustic, coke and pitch.In 2011, Rio Tinto's share of bauxite, alumina and aluminium production is expected to be 35.8m tonnes, 9.2m tonnes and 3.9m tonnes, respectively.Hard coking coal production set a new quarterly record, 14% above the third quarter of 2010, and recovered strongly from the severe flooding earlier in the year. In 2011, Rio Tinto's share of Australian hard coking, semi soft coking and thermal coal production is expected to be 8m tonnes, 3m tonnes and 18m tonnes, respectively.--jh