16th Jul 2015 05:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto PLC on Thursday reported that its global iron ore production for the second quarter grew 9% from last year, while shipments increased 8%.
However, the company lowered its forecast for full-year iron ore shipments, citing weather disruption in the first half of the year at its Pilbara operations.
Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest iron-ore producer, said its global iron ore production for the second quarter increased 9% on a 100% basis to 79.7 million tons.
The company's second quarter iron-ore production also rose 7% sequentially. Iron ore sales accounts for roughly 90% of the profit of Rio Tinto.
Iron ore prices slumped to a ten-year low of USD44 a ton recently, but have since risen to USD50 per ton.
At Pilbara, iron ore production grew 9% from last year to 75.2 million tonnes and sales rose 8% to 77.2 million tonnes. The mines in the Pilbara region are among those having the lowest cost of operations in the world.
The company's global iron ore shipments for the quarter grew 8% on a 100% basis from the year-ago quarter to 81.4 million tonnes. Sequentially, iron-ore shipments were up 12%.
During the first half of the year, Rio Tinto completed the key elements of its Pilbara expansion, which will lift production to 360 million tonnes a year. The expansion at Pilbara was despite the fall in iron ore prices over the past eighteen months.
"The focus is now to ramp up the new equipment to full capacity and generate maximum value from the integrated system," Rio Tinto said.
Quarterly total mined copper production decreased 19% from last year to 134 million tons, primarily due to lower output at Kennecott Utah.
Bauxite production for the quarter rose 5%, while aluminum production was flat with last year.
Hard coking coal's production increased 15%, while semi-soft and thermal coal production declined 5% from last year.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, Rio Tinto Rio Tinto now expects 2015 global shipments of 340 million tonnes from its operations in Australia and Canada. Earlier, the company forecast global shipments "approaching" 350 million tonnes.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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