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Rio Tinto’s strong iron ore production offset by more cost warnings

Published: 10:32 17 Jul 2018 BST

mining dump trucks
Rio expects full-year iron ore shipments to be at the upper end of its guidance

Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) saw iron ore shipments pick up in what was a “solid” second quarter for the mining giant.

The FTSE 100 digger shipped 88.5mln tonnes (Mt) of iron ore in the three months ended June 30, up 14% year-on-year as a result of better weather and improved productivity.

That figure was comfortably ahead of what analysts had been expecting. With shipments up 9% so far this year, Rio now expects full-year iron ore deliveries to be at the upper end of the existing guidance range of 330 to 340Mt.

Higher costs

There was a negative through in cost inflation, with the company reiterating its expectations of higher costs, particularly in its aluminium operations.

“Operational performance was solid across most commodities, rounding out a strong first half performance for the group,” said chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques.

“Our increasingly flexible Pilbara iron ore system continued to perform well. Our bauxite and copper businesses also delivered strong operating results, demonstrating the success of our ongoing mine-to-market productivity programme, which is increasingly important in an environment of rising cost inflation.”

Rio shares were up 1.1% to 4,048p in mid-morning trade on Tuesday, helped by a target price hike from US investment bank JP Morgan.

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