20th Apr 2006 07:00
Rio Tinto PLC20 April 2006 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 2006 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q 1Q Full Year'000 tonnes (100% basis) 2005 2005 2005 2005 2006 2005 Hunter Valley OperationsThermal coal production 2,765 2,497 2,429 2,651 2,386 10,341Semi-soft coking coal production 570 530 555 378 419 2,033 Mount Thorley OperationsThermal coal production 718 612 836 529 969 2,695Semi-soft coking coal production 268 458 261 281 291 1,267 Bengalla MineThermal coal production 1,430 1,274 1,208 2,053 1,088 5,965 Warkworth MineThermal coal production 1,380 1,335 1,736 1,495 1,759 5,946Semi-soft coking coal production 50 145 85 67 11 347 Total coal production 7,181 6,850 7,110 7,452 6,922 28,594 Total sales ('000 tonnes)(a) 7,860 6,564 7,088 7,529 7,306 29,042 (a) Sales relate only to coal mined by the operations and exclude tradedcoal. Production figures are sometimes more precise than the rounded numbers shown,hence small difference may result between the total of the quarter figures andthe full year figures. Shipments were in line with the allocation set under the Port Waratah CoalServices capacity balancing system. Production from the Hunter ValleyOperations and Mount Thorley Warkworth aligned with the port and railallocation. Production from Bengalla was below the preceding quarter and thefirst quarter of 2005. With relatively short dragline paths available,significant variations in coal release from quarter to quarter arecharacteristic at Bengalla. There was no exploration activity during the quarter. Coal & Allied continued work on the pre-feasibility study of the Mount Pleasantdeposit (Coal & Allied 100 per cent). For further information, please contact: LONDON AUSTRALIA Media Relations Media RelationsHugh Leggatt Ian HeadOffice: +44 (0) 20 7753 2273 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3620Mobile: +44 (0) 7764 369 977 Mobile: +61 (0) 408 360 101 Investor Relations Investor RelationsNigel Jones Dave SkinnerOffice: +44 (0) 20 7753 2401 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3628Mobile: +44 (0) 7917 227 365 Mobile: +61 (0) 408 335 309 David Ovington Susie CreswellOffice: +44 (0) 20 7753 2326 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3639Mobile: +44 (0) 7920 010 978 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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