Disasters affect exports

Cyclone, fire disrupt Rio Tinto facility in Pilbara

RIO Tinto has posted a 3 per cent drop in iron ore shipments in 2019 as the AngloAustralian miner’s operations faced disruptions due to cyclone and a fire at a port facility.

Iron ore shipped from Australia’s Pilbara region (pictured) in 2019 was 327.4 million tonnes, the company said, well within its forecast of 320 million tonnes to 330 million tonnes.

The company said it made up for the disruptions in the first half by way of higher iron ore production and shipments than a year earlier.

However, in the fourth quarter, shipments of the steelmaking material dipped 1 per cent to 86.8 million tonnes.

The global miner has benefited from a jump in iron ore prices following a supply squeeze due to a fatal dam collapse in Brazil early last year.

But with global production now stabilising, the prices are off their highs.

The company expects iron ore shipments, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of its profit, to be between 330 million tonnes and 343 million tonnes in 2020.

Rio Tinto has been shipping out higher volumes of a lower grade, 60 per cent SP 10 product, as it struggles with operational bottlenecks at its new Koodaideri mine in Western Australia, from where it expects to produce ore in late 2021.

The London-based miner posted a 28 per cent jump in bauxite production in 2019 and said it expected aluminium production to be between 3.1 million tonnes and 3.3 million tonnes in 2020.

It also set a 2020 target of 530,000 to 580,000 tonnes of mined copper.

In the US, Rio Tinto recorded a 5 per cent drop in copper production at the Kennecott mine against 2018 (to 577,000 tonnes).