Rio Tinto Australian Iron-ore Shipments Higher On-year

By Rhiannon Hoyle

SYDNEY--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) said quarterly exports of iron ore from its Australian mines rose 5% on-year because of fewer weather-related setbacks and continued productivity improvements, although shipments fell 11% on the quarter immediately prior.

The Anglo-Australian company, one of the world's top iron-ore exporters, reported iron ore shipments of 80.3 million metric tons from Australia's western Pilbara region in the three months through March. Production from those mines rose 8% on-year to 83.1 million tons, it said.

"Production benefited from fewer weather disruptions than the first quarter of 2017, along with the ramp up of Silvergrass and the ongoing implementation of productivity improvements across the integrated system," the miner said.

The company stuck to an earlier goal that it will ship between 330 million and 340 million tons of the steelmaking ingredient from Australia in 2018.

The miner has said it will spend about US$1 billion annually over the next three years on sustaining output in the remote, iron-rich Pilbara. It's also studying a possible new US$2.2 billion mine that could begin producing from 2021.

Rio Tinto, which recently sold its Australian coal mines, reported a 30% on-year fall in quarterly hard coking coal production, to 1.1 million tons. That was in part because of maintenance work at its Kestrel mine and a lower yield at the Hail Creek operation, it said.

The company on Wednesday also reported a 65% on-year jump in mined copper production, to 139,300 tons, because of the worker strike at the part-owned Escondida mine in Chile that hindered production in the first half of last year.

The miner said it will continue to advance its productivity drive and be disciplined on spending.

While better global growth is helping miners emerge from a multiyear downturn, the sector faces a fresh cost crunch as prices for things including fuel, wages and chemicals begin to climb.

"This year promises to be more challenging than the last, as the industry faces rising cost inflation, as well as geopolitical uncertainties, particularly in relation to trade," Chairman Simon Thompson said in remarks prepared for a shareholder meeting in London earlier this month.

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at [email protected]