Rio Tinto Reduces Mined Copper Guidance
October 16 2017 - 6:28PM
Dow Jones News
By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE, Australia--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) scaled back its
forecast for mined copper this year after delays in the planned
ramp-up of production at the part-owned Escondida operation in
Chile's Atacama Desert.
The revision comes after a drop in the Anglo-Australian miner's
copper output in the third quarter, and after a rebound the quarter
before following a lengthy strike at the Escondida mine managed by
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU).
Rio Tinto on Tuesday said it now expected mined copper output of
between 460,000 and 480,000 metric tons this year, against an
earlier forecast of 500,000-550,000 tons. The pared forecast also
reflects changes to be made at the Kennecott mine outside Salt Lake
City, Utah.
The company said it continues to expect production of refined
copper for the year to be between 185,000 and 225,000 tons,
although that was subject to the outcome of an investigation into a
fatal accident at Kennecott in early May.
Rio Tinto's production of mined copper in the third quarter fell
by 3% year-over-year to 120,600 tons, while output of most other
commodities was higher.
Production of iron ore from Rio Tinto's mines in Australia's
western Pilbara region was up 2% on year at 85 million tons, and 6%
higher than in the previous quarter, while shipments of the
steelmaking ingredient climbed 6% on-year and 11%
quarter-over-quarter to 85.8 million tons as rail capacity in the
region improved.
In July, the miner scaled back guidance for iron ore and after
the Pilbara operations were hit by rough weather early in the year
and it prepared for continued rail maintenance.
Production of steelmaking coking coal rose to 2.24 million tons
in the quarter, up 3% on-year and 44% higher than in the previous
quarter when wet weather disrupted operations on Australia's
eastern coast.
Bauxite production was up 4% on-year, but flat on the prior
quarter, at 12.9 million tons and Rio Tinto said it now expected
output for the year of between 50 million and 51 million tons from
a previous target of 48 million-50 million.
Rio Tinto has stepped up returns to shareholders this year as
earnings have rebounded with a recovery in commodities prices and
after cutting back on spending in recent years to cut debt. Last
month, it said it would used the proceeds from the sale of its Coal
& Allied unit in Australia to fund a further repurchase of
US$2.5 billion in its Australia- and U.K.-listed shares, bringing
the total it aims to buy back to US$4 billion.
In the first half of the year, Rio Tinto's net profit almost
doubled to US$3.31 billion and revenue increased 25% to US$19.32
billion.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 16, 2017 18:13 ET (22:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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