Rio Tinto Scales Back Iron Ore, Coking Coal Guidance
July 17 2017 - 6:48PM
Dow Jones News
By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE, Australia--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) scaled back its annual
targets for Australian iron-ore shipments and steelmaking
coking-coal production after operations were hit by rough weather
early in the year.
The Anglo-Australian mining company said its share of output
from its iron-ore mines in the Pilbara region of Western Australia
dipped 2% on a year earlier to 65 million metric tons and was down
by a similar level for the first half of 2017 after being dented by
bad weather in the first three months and rail maintenance in the
second quarter.
That left overall shipments of iron ore from the mines down 3%
for the half year at 154.3 million tons and prompted Rio Tinto to
revise its guidance for the year to about 330 million tons from
between 330 million and 340 million previously.
Rail maintenance is set to continue throughout the remainder of
2017, though at a lower level than in the second quarter, Rio Tinto
said.
Second-quarter production of hard coking coal was down 14%
on-year to 1.56 million tons and was 17% lower for the half year
after the mines in eastern Australia were affected by Tropical
Cyclone Debbie, where access to a pit at the Hail Creek operation
was restricted by excess water. Rio Tinto said it now expected
coking coal output for the year to be between 7.2 million and 7.8
million tons, against a 7.8 million-8.4 million range
previously.
Mined copper production for the second quarter was also lower,
down 6% year-over-year at 124,700 tons, and down 21% for the first
half at 208,900 tons, although the company said it continued to
expect its share of output from operations would be 500,00-550,000
tons for 2017. Rio Tinto's jointly-owned Escondida copper operation
in Chile was hit hard by a 43-day miners' strike, which led the
company to reduce its annual mined output guidance in April.
Among Rio Tinto's other commodities, aluminum production for the
second quarter was 1% lower on-year at 888,000 tons, but bauxite
output was 7% higher at 12.87 million tons, and semi-soft and
thermal coal production was 7% higher at 5.57 million tons.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 17, 2017 19:33 ET (23:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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