Australia-based Rio Tinto, the world's second biggest iron ore producer, has announced that in the second quarter of the current year iron ore production from its Pilbara operations in Western Australia increased by seven percent year on year to 85.5 million mt. In the given quarter, the company's iron ore shipments from its Pilbara operations amounted to 88.5 million mt, rising by 14 percent from the same quarter of the previous year, benefiting from better weather and reflecting improved productivity across the system.
Rio Tinto expects its Pilbara iron ore shipments in the current year to be at the upper end of the existing guidance range of 330 million mt to 340 million mt.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto's Australian hard coking coal production in the second quarter rose by 40 percent to 2.17 million mt compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The company expects to produce around 7.5-8.5 million mt of hard coking coal in this year.