By Rhiannon Hoyle
SYDNEY--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) shipped 9% more iron ore from its Australian mines in the first half of 2018, and said it expects full-year shipments at the high end of an earlier projection.
The Anglo-Australian mining company on Tuesday said 168.8 million metric tons of the steelmaking commodity was exported from its operations in Australia's remote Pilbara mining region during the first six months of the year. It forecast 2018 shipments from its mines here to be in the upper end of an existing target of 330-340 million tons.
Rio Tinto also reported a 7% increase in half-year bauxite production to 25.9 million tons and a 42% jump in mined copper output to 296,100 tons. Aluminum output was down 4% on a year ago, at 1.7 million tons.
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