Rio Tinto expands mine and port capacity

Rio Tinto expands mine and port capacity

The expansion of Hamersley Iron owned 100% by Rio Tinto and the Yandicoogina mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia has been approved by the state government. With this approval, the mine is now permitted to increase the annual iron ore production by 50% from 24 million tons to 36 million tons. And the Dampier port's annual iron ore capacity will increase from 74 million tons to 116 million tons. The decision of Rio Tinto to expand iron ore capacity at Pilbara is basically to meet the strong growth in demand for this material from China. Hamersley Iron has allocated $A1.24 billion for the expansion project, covering both the mine and the Dampier port. Construction on both projects is scheduled to begin still within December. The Yandicoogina mine expansion is expected to be commissioned in early 2005. Completion of the port expansion is scheduled for late 2005, with progressive commissioning from early 2005. According to a statement by Rio Tinto, other projects on providing additional rail, power and other infrastructure complementary to the new port and mine requirements are also in progress.