Benzinga - Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) continues to make "steady progress" with its "highest-ever first quarter shipments" achieved in the Western Australia iron ore business, according to CEO Jakob Stausholm.
- The miner reported that iron-ore shipments from Pilbara reached 82.5 million tons, a 16% Y/Y increase, while production reached 79.3 million tons, up 11%.
- Rio reaffirms iron-ore shipments of 320 million-335 million tons for the full year from Pilbara iron ore.
- Mined copper production, on a consolidated basis, remained the same as Q1 FY22, at 145,000 t, as increased production from the Oyu Tolgoi mine offset the decreased production from the Kennecott operation in the U.S.
- Mined copper production was 36% Y/Y lower owing to a combination of record snowfall and a failure in early March of motors that drive a conveyor belt that feeds crushed ore to the concentrator.
- At Oyu Tolgoi, mined copper production increased by 41% in the first quarter of 2022, owing to concentrator maintenance in the prior period and higher copper grades.
- Rio Tinto adjusted its full-year copper production target from 650,000 t-710,000 t to 590,000 t-640,000 t, reflecting the impact of the conveyor outage at Kennecott and the geotechnical challenges in the open pit at Escondida.
- Gudai-Darri is expected to be running at full capacity of 43 million tons per year sometime later this year, implying that 2024 will be the first year in which Gudai-Darri produces 43 million tons of iron ore.
- Meanwhile, bauxite production of 12.1 million tons was 11% lower than a year ago as the Weipa operations were affected by higher-than-average rainfall during the yearly wet season.
- Alumina production of 1.9 million tons was 2% Y/Y lower following unplanned outages at Queensland Alumina Limited and plant reliability issues at Yarwun in Australia.
- At the Rincon lithium project in Argentina, the company's $140 million estimate and schedule to develop the starter plant is under review in response to "significant local inflation and cost escalation for equipment."
- Price Action: RIO shares are down 1.13% at $68.43 on the last check Thursday.
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