Rio Tinto’s iron ore output rise 39 percent in Q1 2010

In the first quarter of 2010, Australian mining giant Rio Tinto's global iron ore production rose 39 percent compared with the first quarter of 2009, totaling 43.36 million metric tons, according to the company's operations review for Q1 2010. Meanwhile, in the given period, the company's iron ore output regressed 8.19 percent quarter on quarter.
 
Rio Tinto's share of first quarter production at Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) was 1.9 million metric tons of pellets and concentrate, a one percent increase on the same quarter of 2009 and 23 percent lower than the fourth quarter of 2009 driven by severe weather and related power failures.
 
During the quarter in question, Rio Tinto started producing iron ore from the US$901 million (Rio Tinto share US$478 million) Mesa A/Warramboo mine. The mine will have an initial production of 20 million metric tons per year, increasing to 25 million metric tons by 2011.
 
In the first three months of this year, Rio Tinto's Australian hard coking coal output amounted to 1.86 million metric tons, increasing by 35.42 percent over the corresponding period of 2009, when production was reduced in response to the slowdown in the global steel industry, and down 12.32 percent compared to the last quarter of 2009.
 
Rio Tinto's HIsmelt pig iron plant in Western Australia has been on a care and maintenance program since March 2009, due to depressed global pig iron prices.
 
Commenting on the results, Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese said, "In the first quarter, most of our operations continued to run at capacity. Chinese demand grew strongly and we saw some recovery in OECD markets, but we are still cautious about short-term volatility. The long-term outlook remains very strong and we are now ramping up our growth projects with sustained investment in our iron ore business."