Rio Tinto to expand Pilbara

24th Sep 2010 07:11

Rio Tinto is to plough US$230m into its operations at the Dampier Port in Western Australia to expand capacity.The expansion will result in an additional 5m tonnes annual capacity (Mt/a), taking total annual capacity for the Pilbara region to 230 Mt/a in the first quarter of 2012. This investment is in addition to US$91m investment in expansion approved in early 2010, which is currently being implemented."Rio Tinto's Parker Point facility at Dampier port is our single largest and busiest port operation. We will actively manage this incremental expansion to maintain production and expansion schedules, consistent with our record of orderly and timely delivery of additional iron ore supply," said Sam Walsh, chief executive of Rio Tinto's Iron Ore and Australian division."These additional tonnes will come from our existing west Pilbara operations at Nammuldi and Brockman 2, and without any additional investment in the mines," Walsh added.