20th Apr 2005 08:09
Rio Tinto PLC20 April 2005 Rio Tinto's 75.7 per cent owned subsidiary, Coal & Allied Industries Limited,issued the following news release in Australia. All dollars are Australiancurrency. Coal & Allied production report for the quarter ended 31 March 2005 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q Full Year'000 tonnes (100% basis)(a) 2004 2004 2004 2004 2005 2004 Hunter Valley Operations Thermal coal production 2,255 2,738 2,838 3,340 2,765 11,172Semi-soft coking coal production 371 729 689 308 570 2,097Mount Thorley Operations Thermal coal production 514 710 722 817 718 2,762Semi-soft coking coal production 158 240 258 129 268 785 Bengalla Mine Thermal coal production 1,075 1,525 1,737 975 1,430 5,312Warkworth Mine Thermal coal production 1,217 1,394 1,381 1,560 1,380 5,552Semi-soft coking coal production 237 447 479 239 50 1,403 Total coal production 5,826 7,784 8,105 7,368 7,181 29,083 Total sales ('000 tonnes)(a) 6,424 7,486 7,931 6,835 7,860 28,677 (a) Sales relate only to coal mined by the operations and exclude traded coal. Production from all operations exceeded the weather-affected first quarter of2004. Semi soft volumes increased as a result of improved access to seams with semisoft qualities. At Hunter Valley Operations this was combined with a processingstrategy that focussed on this higher premium product. Bengalla benefited froma move into a more favourable section of the mining sequence. However, with thecompletion of the current strip in the second quarter of 2005, Bengalla'soperations will move into a less productive area. At the end of March, the ship queue at the Port of Newcastle was 17 vessels,reflecting the success of the capacity allocation system. No exploration activity was undertaken. Coal & Allied continued work on the development of the Mount Pleasant deposit(Coal & Allied 100 per cent.) For further information, please contact: LONDON AUSTRALIA Media Relations Media Relations Lisa Cullimore Ian Head Office: +44 (0) 20 7753 2305 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3620 Mobile: +44 (0) 7730 418 385 Mobile: +61 (0) 408 360 101Investor Relations Investor Relations Nigel Jones Dave Skinner Office: +44 (0) 20 7753 2401 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3628 Mobile: +44 (0) 7917 227365 Mobile: +61 (0) 408 335 309 Richard Brimelow Susie Creswell Office: +44 (0) 20 7753 2326 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3639 Mobile: +44 (0) 7753 783 825 Mobile: +61 (0) 418 933 792 Website: www.riotinto.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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