Rio Tinto ramps up iron ore production

19th Jul 2016 07:13

(ShareCast News) - Mining giant Rio Tinto said second quarter iron ore production from its mines in Western Australia's Pilbara rose 8% to nearly 81m from the same time a year ago.Pilbara iron ore shipments rose 6% to 82.2m tonnes.Over the six month period, shipments of iron ore increased 8% to nearly 159m tonnes, while production rose 10% to almost 161m tonnes.Rio Tinto will produce nearly 330m tonnes of iron ore this year, in line with production forecasts.Bauxite production was 9% higher than the first half of 2015 and this enabled a five per cent increase in third party sales over the first half of 2015.First half aluminium production was 10% higher than the same period in 2015, with the modernised and expanded Kitimat smelter delivering its first full quarter at nameplate capacity.Hard coking coal production for the first half was 8% lower than the first half of last year and second quarter production was 4 % lower than the same quarter of 2015 primarily due to the timing of the longwall changeover at Kestrel.