Rio Tinto- world’s second largest iron ore producer and exporter, has recently announced its Q4 2016 operational review. According to the reports, the company produced 329.5 MnT iron ore and hit a production target at 330 MnT in 2016.
Shipments from Rio Tinto were registered at 327.6 MnT in 2016, which was 3% increase as compared to 318.5 MnT in 2015. Iron ore production grew up by 6% Y-o-Y as it was 309.9 MnT in the preceding year. The company attributed this to the ramp-up of expanded mines, improvements of productivity, and minimal weather disruptions.
The company has managed to produce 85.5 MnT iron ore in Q4 2016 (i.e. Oct-Dec’16) and shipped 87.7 MnT iron ore in the same time frame. On Q-o-Q basis, iron ore production moved up by 3% and shipment 8%. However, on Y-o-Y basis, iron ore production moved up by 4%and shipment 1% as compared to Q4 2015.
Alongside, the company also aims to produce around 330-340 MnT iron ore in 2017 from its operations in Australia and Canada, subject to weather conditions.
Despite volatile global iron ore prices in 2016, the company has managed to reach to their production guidance for 2016. Iron ore prices unexpectedly surged by around 80% in 2016 which was due to strong demand from China.
The upcoming Silvergrass project will increase iron ore production capacity by another 10 MnT per year of high-grade, low phosphorus ore. The project expects to deliver its first ore in the second half of 2017.
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