Rio Tinto Scales Back Copper Production Target
April 19 2017 - 7:41PM
Dow Jones News
By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE, Australia--Rio Tinto PLC's (RIO) shipments of iron
ore from its operations in Australia's western Pilbara were dented
by cyclones and rough weather in the first quarter, while mined
copper production was hit hard by a 43-day strike at a mine in
Chile.
But while the Anglo-Australian miner scaled back its target for
copper output this year, it held to its guidance for iron ore.
Rio Tinto said shipments of iron ore from the Pilbara were flat
year-over-year at 76.7 million metric tons, but down 13% on the
prior quarter due to cyclone activity and heavy rainfall that
affected sections of its rail network and impacted ship loading.
Still, it continued to expect production this year from the
operations of between 330 million and 340 million tons.
Mined copper production for the first quarter was down 37%
on-year and over the previous quarter, at 84,200 tons due to the
strike at the Escondida mine as well as reduced production at the
Grasberg operation in Indonesia. As a result, it cut its guidance
for the full year to 500,000-550,000 tons from an earlier forecast
of 525,000-665,000 tons, although it still expects refined copper
production of 185,000-225,000 tons.
In late January, BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) cautioned it expected
to produce less copper than previously estimated in the financial
year through June after a sharp fall in first-half output and due
to the threat of the strike over pay at Escondida, the world's
biggest copper mine it co-owns with Rio Tinto.
Among other commodities produced by Rio Tinto, it said aluminum
output reached 889,000 tons for the quarter, a rise of 2% on the
year before but down 3% on the prior quarter. Coking coal
production was down 20% on-year and 28% lower on-quarter at 1.58
million tons, but thermal coal output was up 4% on-year and down 1%
on-quarter at 5.18 million tons.
"Despite challenging weather conditions at our West Australian
and Queensland operations, we delivered solid production in the
first quarter," Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 19, 2017 19:26 ET (23:26 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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