Rio Tinto Q3 Global Iron Ore Production Up 12% On Year, 8% On Quarter

(RTTNews) - Rio Tinto Plc (RTPPF.PK, RIO.L, RIO, RTNTF.PK) reported that its third quarter global iron ore production totalled 86.1 million tonnes, up 12 percent from the year-ago quarter and up 8 percent sequentially. Global iron ore shipments for the quarter improved 17 percent on year and 12 percent on quarter.

Bauxite production for the quarter rose 4 percent on year, while Aluminium production increased 1 percent. Mined copper production declined 24 percent, while Hard coking coal production improved 5 percent. Semi-soft and thermal coal production declined 8 percent, while Titanium dioxide slag fell 34 percent.

Iron ore production at Pilbara operations during third quarter totaled 81.3 million tonnes, with Rio Tinto share of 66.5 million tonnes, 12 percent higher than the same quarter of 2014.

In addition, Rio Tinto said its expected 2015 global iron ore shipments are unchanged at around 340 million tonnes, from its operations in Australia and Canada. The company's expected share of production of bauxite and aluminium are unchanged at 43 million tonnes and 3.3 million tonnes, respectively.