Rio’s profits ensure jobs for the Cape
sometime between RIO Tinto has announced a record profit, assuring work for more than 1200 employees in Cape York.
Chief executive J-S Jacques announced $US13.5 billion in returns to shareholders yesterday, including a final dividend of $US3.1 billion and special dividend of $US4 billion.
“These strong results reflect the efforts of the team to implement our value-over-volume strategy as we continued to strengthen the portfolio and invest in future growth,” he said. “Our world-class portfolio and strong balance sheet will serve us well in all market conditions, and underpin our ability to continue to invest in our business and deliver superior returns to shareholders in the short, medium and long term.”
The $US1.9 billion (A$2.6 billion) Amrun bauxite project shipped its first tonnes six weeks ahead of schedule in December 2018. Amrun will help sustain 1400 jobs across Rio Tinto’s Weipa operations, including Amrun, East Weipa and Andoom.
“We made great progress at Amrun – and delivered the project six weeks ahead of schedule and below budget,” chief financial officer Jakob Stausholm said.
Rio Tinto has ensured plenty of focus on Amrun, spending $US2.1 billion from Australian suppliers on the site as well as other development projects in- cluding AutoHaul™ automated trains.
The report to shareholders also revealed bauxite production in 2018 was 50.4 million tonnes, 1 per cent lower than 2017.
“Strong production at Gove and the Andoom mining area in Weipa … was offset by lower production at two non-managed operations,” the report read. “The planned transition of operations from East Weipa to Amrun also affected production during the fourth quarter. Our strong production performance enabled us to increase shipments of bauxite to third parties by two per cent to 32.8 million tonnes.
“This reinforces our position as a leading global supplier in the seaborne bauxite trade.”
editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost