Rio Tinto's iron ore production increased 10% from a quarter ago in the second quarter, as the continued attention made to the operation of mines and the commissioning of the Kudadeli project offset the impact caused by the higher-than-average precipitation in May, the company said in its report.
The company's iron ore output also increased 4% year on year to 68.64 million tonnes during the second quarter. The shipments were at 69.12 million tonnes, climbing 4% year on year and up 11% from the preceding quarter.
Pilbara
Specifically, the company's equity iron ore output from the Pilbara operations stood at 66.04 million tonnes in the second quarter, rising 4% year on year and up 10% compared with the preceding quarter.
Shipments were registered at 66.55 million tonnes, up 4% and 10% respectively compared with the preceding year and the first quarter. The company maintained its Pilbara shipment target unchanged at 320-335 million tonnes for the whole year.
IOC
Rio Tinto's equity iron ore production from the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) was 2.60 million tonnes, down 4% from a year ago and rising 8% from the preceding quarter. The output of concentrate was 1.28 million tonnes and that of pellets 1.32 million tonnes, data showed.
Rio Tinto's IOC aims to produce 10-11 million tonnes of pellets and concentrates in 2022.
Rio Tinto's equity iron ore shipments of IOC reached 2.57 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 9% and a quarter-on-quarter rise of 28%. Rio Tinto holds 59% of the shares in the IOC.
Sales
In the second quarter of 2022, Rio Tinto's iron ore sales totaled 71.26 million tonnes, rising 6% from the preceding year and up 7% quarter on quarter.
As the Koodaideri iron ore project gradually ramps up production after the first delivery in June, Rio Tinto expects its iron ore production to increase in the second half of the year and production structure to improve. The project is expected to reach full production in 2023.
During the first half of 2022, Rio Tinto produced 131 million tonnes of iron ore, down 1% year on year; shipments were 127 million tonnes, falling 1% year on year; and sales stood at 138 million tonnes, 1% lower compared with the year-ago level.
During the reporting period, Rio Tinto continued to increase its iron ore sales to Chinese ports, with a cumulative sales volume of 14.2 million tonnes, much higher than the 5.4 million tonnes in the same period last year, data showed.
(Writing by Emma Yang Editing by Tammy Yang)
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