Rio Tinto 3 mth to March output up as expansion offsets weather disruptions

Rio Tinto 3 mth to March output up as expansion offsets weather disruptions

	Published : Thu, 19 Apr 2007 07:09 By : Agencies Print this Story

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Rio Tinto said output in key commodities such as iron ore in the three months ended March was generally higher than the same quarter a year earlier, reflecting capacity expansions at existing operations.

But the March quarter report showed that cyclonic weather affected iron ore output at the group's mines in Australia's north-western Pilbara region.

The dual listed Anglo Australian mining giant said iron ore output in the first quarter of its December year from its Hamersley mines in the Pilbara totaled 23.9 mln metric tons, up 17 pct on the same quarter a year earlier but down 3 pct on the December quarter.

Output at the majority-owned Robe River joint venture in the same region totaled 6.5 mln tons, up 8.0 pct on a year earlier but down 12 pct on the December quarter.

Rio Tinto was forced to curtail operations for several days when a series of tropical cyclones swept through the area during the quarter.

The company said production at its Pilbara mines will continue to grow as a 5 bln usd iron expansion program gathers pace.

In February, an 860 mln usd expansion of the Cape Lambert port, of which Rio Tinto's share is 456 mln usd, was announced, aimed at increasing annual port capacity to 80 mln tons from 55 mln.

Rio Tinto reported a 3 pct fall in mined copper production, which reflected declining grades at its Kennecott Utah operations in the US.

But, the company said, refined copper output rose 19 pct from the previous first quarter due to higher production at the BHP Billiton-operated Escondida mine in northern Chile in which Rio Tinto has a 30 pct stake.

Refined copper output at Escondida rose 148 pct in the latest quarter from a year earlier as sulphide leach production commenced in the latter half of 2006.

Rio Tinto said hard coking coal production increased 28 pct from the previous first quarter to 1.4 mln tons, reflecting stronger demand although it fell 5 pct on the December quarter due to port congestion at the east coast Australian port of Newcastle - rated the world's largest coal export port.

Based on allocated port capacity, Rio Tinto said it anticipates that output and sales through the Port of Newcastle by its majority owned listed subsidiary, Coal & Allied Industries Ltd, will be in line with levels achieved in the last two quarters.

Rio Tinto said Australian thermal coal production declined by 8 pct compared with the first quarter of 2006 as a result of the port congestion.

bruce.hextall@xfn.com