Rio Tinto Australian Iron-ore Shipments Higher On-year
April 17 2018 - 7:35PM
Dow Jones News
By Rhiannon Hoyle
SYDNEY--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) said quarterly exports of iron ore
from its Australian mines rose 5% on-year because of fewer
weather-related setbacks and continued productivity improvements,
although shipments fell 11% on the quarter immediately prior.
The Anglo-Australian company, one of the world's top iron-ore
exporters, reported iron ore shipments of 80.3 million metric tons
from Australia's western Pilbara region in the three months through
March. Production from those mines rose 8% on-year to 83.1 million
tons, it said.
"Production benefited from fewer weather disruptions than the
first quarter of 2017, along with the ramp up of Silvergrass and
the ongoing implementation of productivity improvements across the
integrated system," the miner said.
The company stuck to an earlier goal that it will ship between
330 million and 340 million tons of the steelmaking ingredient from
Australia in 2018.
The miner has said it will spend about US$1 billion annually
over the next three years on sustaining output in the remote,
iron-rich Pilbara. It's also studying a possible new US$2.2 billion
mine that could begin producing from 2021.
Rio Tinto, which recently sold its Australian coal mines,
reported a 30% on-year fall in quarterly hard coking coal
production, to 1.1 million tons. That was in part because of
maintenance work at its Kestrel mine and a lower yield at the Hail
Creek operation, it said.
The company on Wednesday also reported a 65% on-year jump in
mined copper production, to 139,300 tons, because of the worker
strike at the part-owned Escondida mine in Chile that hindered
production in the first half of last year.
The miner said it will continue to advance its productivity
drive and be disciplined on spending.
While better global growth is helping miners emerge from a
multiyear downturn, the sector faces a fresh cost crunch as prices
for things including fuel, wages and chemicals begin to climb.
"This year promises to be more challenging than the last, as the
industry faces rising cost inflation, as well as geopolitical
uncertainties, particularly in relation to trade," Chairman Simon
Thompson said in remarks prepared for a shareholder meeting in
London earlier this month.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 17, 2018 19:20 ET (23:20 GMT)
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