RE: Tata Threatens to Cut Europe Steel Output Furt
13.10.2011 | 07:47
(34 Leser)
ROUNDUP: Rio Tinto Q3 Iron Ore Production Up 5%
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Plc (RIO, RIO.L, RTNTF.PK, RTPPF.PK) on Thursday reported a 5 percent year-over-year increase in its global iron ore production for the third quarter, as operations recovered from the severe weather experienced earlier this year. The company said it has set new quarterly records for iron ore sales and hard coking coal production during the quarter.
Rio Tinto's global iron ore production in the quarter was 50 million tonnes attributable, or 64 million tonnes on a 100 percent basis.
The company noted that the Pilbara mines in Western Australia continued to operate at above capacity. Iron ore sales from the Pilbara operations was 60 million tonnes, a newly quarterly record, as the ports and rail recovered strongly from the inclement weather experienced earlier in the year.
Rio Tinto continues to maintain its full-year iron ore production outlook in excess of 240 million tonnes from its global operations in Australia and Canada.
Coal production from the Queensland and New South Wales coal mines rebounded from the severe rains in the first half of the year. Australian hard coking coal production of 2,774 thousand tonnes set a new quarterly record and was 14 per cent higher than the year-ago period and 55 per cent higher than the preceding second quarter.
Tom Albanese, Chief executive of Rio Tinto said, 'We have set new quarterly records for iron ore sales and hard coking coal production as our operations recovered from the severe weather experienced earlier in the year. Whilst we are mindful of current market volatility, the fundamentals are holding up well, particularly for bulk-traded commodities.'
Mined copper production declined 32 percent to 109.3 thousand tonnes from last year. Mined copper continued to be impacted by lower grades at Escondida and Kennecott Utah Copper.
Meanwhile, Bauxite production increased 7 percent from the year-ago period to 9,178 thousand tonnes, driven by increased third party demand.
Aluminum production rose 2 percent to 962 thousand tonnes, as production recovered gradually from the abnormally heavy rains between December 2010 and April 2011. However, alumina production declined 5 percent from the prior-year quarter to 2,235 thousand tonnes.
In late September, Rio Tinto said its long-term view of demand growth is unchanged and that it expects iron ore to grow by 50 per cent in the five years to 2015.
Rio Tinto said in mid-September that it would invest $833 million to expand its Pilbara iron ore operations. According to the company, the investment is needed to support its targeted annual production capacity of 283 million tonnes or Mt/a in 2013, and 333 Mt/a in 2015.
RIO closed Wednesday's regular trading at $52.35 on the NYSE, up $1.35 or 2.65 percent on a volume of 4.27 million shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2011 AFX News