Australian mining company Rio Tinto has announced its production results for the third quarter of 2008.
According to the release issued by Rio, the company continued to perform extremely well during Q3, resulting in strong production in iron ore, bauxite and hard coking coal.
By the end of Q3, Rio Tinto had sold 12.5 million mt of iron ore on the spot market during 2008 (three quarters from 100 percent-owned operations, one quarter from JV operations).
Total Q3 production of iron ore, the largest contributor to earnings, amounted to 48 million mt (39 million mt on attributable basis), a 20 percent increase (17 percent on an attributable basis) compared to the same quarter of 2007, demonstrating progress in de-bottlenecking and in the startup of expansion projects.
The new Hope Downs mine produced more than three million mt for the second consecutive quarter, and, with the rapid advance of the Hope Downs South expansion, is ramping up towards 30 million mt per annum capacity (15 million mt on an attributable basis). According to the company, these results were achieved despite significant disruption caused by the major shutdown of Car Dumper 2 at Cape Lambert port for almost three weeks. The safe and rapid recovery of the dumper curtailed production losses to less than one million mt.
As regards its expansion projects, Rio stated that all are proceeding well. The Hope Downs South mine expansion, the engineering for the new Mesa A mine, the early construction and earth works at the future Brockman 4, the power systems upgrade and the automated train operations project are all on or ahead of schedule. The 220 million mt per annum upgrade is approaching the last stage, with work on the Cape Lambert wharf extension being finalized. Commissioning of the new reclaimer commenced, and the new ship loader is expected in the next month. Expected production in the Pilbara mines in 2008 is between 190 and 195 million mt.
The company noted that its long-term outlook remains positive despite the current hardships being experienced in global markets.