Peak Iron Ore Not On The Horizon - Rio Tinto Executive
October 05 2010 - 12:22PM
Dow Jones News
The head of exploration at mining company Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN)
said Tuesday there was no sign that the world would run out of iron
ore.
"Peak iron ore is not on the horizon," said Eric Finlayson at a
conference in London. "Even if no more high-grade deposits were to
be found, technology and price incentive will allow the industry to
mine lower grades into the future," he added.
He said iron ore demand growth had averaged 3% a year for the
past 100 years.
Finlayson also said the world's second-largest iron ore producer
had drilled 2.8 million metric meters of iron ore since 2001, and
was forecast to drill 400,000 meters each year between 2010 and
2014.
He added the company had invested $38 billion at its Pilbara
operations in Australia between 2000 and 2009, which was $1 billion
more than its net earnings from the country during the same
period.
As a result of such high costs, he said, miners would need to
access non-traditional sources of capital for future projects.
-By Angus Mcdowall, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9386;
angus.mcdowall@dowjones.com
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