AT A GLANCE: Rio Tinto Q4 copper production falls on lower ore grades

Rio Tinto's fourth-quarter copper production sank due to lower ore grades, especially at its Kennecott copper mine, while aluminium production took a hit due to unexpected outages in Iceland and Canada during the second half of 2019.

Rio Tinto's 2019 mined copper production of 577,400 tonnes was 5% lower than in 2018, reflecting lower copper grades, which impacted the fourth quarter production at the Kennecott copper mine in Utah in particular.
The problem of lower grades is "expected to persist until we access higher grades from the end of 2020, resulting from phase one of the south wall pushback project," the company said, referring to its $1.5-billion investment to push back and deepen the south wall of the Kennecott mine, extending operations there until 2032.

Rio Tinto previously moved to mine higher ore grades at Escondida, the world's largest...

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