First-half iron ore production hit 120 million tonnes, or 94Mt on an attributable basis, 4% up on the same period of 2011.
As a result, the company maintained its full-year production guidance of 250Mt.
Sales were 109Mt, a new first-half record, with around 40% sold priced with reference to a quarterly average index set at the prior quarter’s average lagged by one month.
Shipments were 115Mt, 4% up, despite a planned maintenance shutdown at Cape Lambert.
For the quarter Rio’s iron ore output totalled 62Mt, or 49Mt attributable, slightly higher than the previous quarter.
Rio boss Tom Albanese said global market conditions had deteriorated during the June quarter.
“We are keeping a close eye on the pace of the US recovery, the continuing eurozone crisis and the impact of efforts to stimulate the Chinese economy on the markets that we serve,” he said.
“Our investment program remains resilient to this market volatility, as our tier one projects are robust under any probable macroeconomic scenario.”
Mined copper rose 12% over the March quarter to 133,500 tonnes due to higher grades at Escondida and Northparkes, while mined copper for the first half fell 8% over the same period of last year.
Rio continued to factor in zero production from Grasberg for 2012 as metal was not likely to reach levels set in an agreement with majority partner Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold.
The company dropped its copper guidance for mined and refined metal to 580,000t and 300,000t respectively from 600,000t and 320,000t respectively.
Copper production will receive a boost in coming quarters as the massive Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia starts production.
Bauxite and alumina production were 8% and 5% higher than the second quarter of 2011, while aluminium output dropped 12%, mainly due to labour disputes at Alma.
Construction of the Yarwun 2 alumina refinery expansion was completed during the quarter with first commercial production expected in the third quarter of 2012.
Uranium production soared thanks to the recovery of the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory, owned and operated by Energy Resources of Australia, Rio’s 62%-owned subsidiary.
At Rossing in Namibia, first half production rose 12%, but output of 858,000 pounds was 20% below the previous quarter.
Uranium production guidance for 2012 is 9.6 million pounds.
First half diamond production from Argyle and Diavik was up 24% and 8% respectively, but Argyle’s jump reflected low production in the same period of last year.
Hard coking coal production was 13% higher than the previous corresponding period and thermal coal production was in line with the second quarter in 2011.
Titanium dioxide feedstock production increased by 5% from the corresponding period in 2011.
During the first six months of the year, Rio charged just over $US1 billion ($A976 million) in pre-tax and pre-divestment exploration and evaluation expenditure to the profit and loss statement, more than double last year.
Around 40% was incurred by the copper group, 30% by the iron ore division, with the rest spread across energy, diamonds, minerals and aluminium.
Greenfields exploration was spread across 15 countries.
Rio shares fell A5c today to $54.44.
This article first appeared in ILN's sister publication MiningNews.net.
