Global miner Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) enjoyed an indifferent production performance across the board throughout last year.
Iron ore shipments along with copper and diamond production all saw year-on-year growth, but not enough to hit market forecasts.
Copper production for the final quarter of 2016 grew by 20% year-on-year to 134,000 tonnes, meaning full-year production was up 4% to 523,000 tonnes.
On the face of it, this seems like strong growth although the final figure is still some way short of even the much-reduced guidance of 535,000 to 565,000 tonnes.
Rio said the reason for the miss was primarily due to lower-than-expected production at the Kennecott mine and no contribution from the Grasberg.
Iron shipments for the year came in 3% higher than 2015 at 328mln tonnes which was in-line with the revised guidance of 325mln-330mln tonnes, but below the 330mln City broker Shore Capital had initially expected.
Diamond production for the 12 months came in at 17.95mln carats – ever so slightly below the 18mln to 20mln forecast.
It was better news in the bauxite and aluminium divisions. The group produced a record 47.7mln tonnes of bauxite in 2016, ahead of previous guidance of 47mln, while aluminium production was 10% higher than last year at 3.6mln tonnes.
“We have delivered a strong operational performance in 2016, underpinned by our drive for efficiency and maximising cash flow,” said chief executive J-S Jacques.
“Our disciplined approach remains in place in 2017, with the continued focus on productivity, cost reduction and commercial excellence.”
Production and shipments guidance remains unchanged for the numbers announced at the end of 2016, Rio said.
The miner is guiding for between 330mln and 340mln tonnes of iron ore shipments (subject to weather) in 2017, production of between 48mln and 50mln tonnes of bauxite as well as 3.5mln to 3.7mln tonnes of aluminium.
Rio is also forecasting copper production in 2017 of between 525,000 and 665,000 tonnes, and is expecting diamond production of between 19mln and 24mln carats.
Shares were down 49p, or 1.4%, to £34.40.