The world’s leading iron ore miner, Rio Tinto, recorded iron ore shipments at 83.4 million tonnes (mn t) for Q3CY’21, marginally up by 2% y-o-y as compared to 82.1 mn t in Q3CY’20. The shipment, on a quarterly basis, increase against 76.3 mn t in Q2CY21.
All figures mentioned are on 100% basis, which means that the shipments include material shipped from the Pilbara mines to the portside trading facility in China which may not be sold onwards by the group during the same period.
Iron ore production drops 4% in Q3CY’21
The total iron ore production marked a 4% fall to 83.3 mn t in Q3CY’21 as against 86.4 mn t in Q3CY’20. This was due to cultural heritage management, brownfield mine replacement tie-ins and project completion delays in addition to ongoing Covid-19 challenges and the tight labour market in Western Australia.
IOC pellet production down in Q3
The Iron Ore Company of Canada’s (IOC’s) iron ore pellet and concentrate production in Q3CY’21 were recorded at 2.2 mn t, down by 8% y-o-y. This was due to labour and equipment availability issues impacting product feed. The annual planned concentrator shutdown was completed in September.
On a quarterly basis, output dropped by 20% as compared to 2.7 mn t in Q2 CY21.
IOC is a joint venture between Rio Tinto, Mitsubishi and the Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Corp.
Key updates
- The company has lowered its Pilbara iron ore shipment guidance for CY’21 to 320-325 mn t against 325-340 mn t earlier. The shipments guidance remains subject to Covid-19 disruptions, including risks around mandatory vaccination for the resources industry in Western Australia as of 1 Dec’21, and risks around commissioning of new mines and management of cultural heritage.
- At IOC, the iron ore pellet and concentrate production guidance for CY’21 has been reduced to 9.5-10.5 mn t as against the earlier10.5-12 mn t .
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