Australian miner Rio Tinto has announced that it has postponed the investment decision on its proposed billion-dollar greenfield Silvergrass iron ore mine until the third quarter of 2015 at the earliest.
Rio Tinto said that its originally forecast production, the delivery of 330 million mt in 2015 and 350 million mt by 2017, remains unchanged with the extra production coming from brownfields, debottlenecking and productivity across the Pilbara mine network.
According to Rio Tinto, its total capital expenditure for 2014 is expected to be slightly below $8.5 billion, down 34 percent year on year. The company is aiming to reduce its operating and exploration costs by $5.4 billion by the end of 2015, compared with the 2012 base.