Rio Tinto has met its fourth quarter iron ore manufacturing steerage however is warning there are a lot of dangers to the commodity market within the coming yr.
The Anglo-Australian miner on Tuesday stated it shipped 87.3 million tonnes of Pilbara iron ore within the fourth quarter, up 5 per cent from the third quarter.
For the yr Rio produced 324.1 million tonnes in 2022, one per cent greater than in 2021. It shipped 321.6m tonnes, about the identical as in 2021. Shipments had been on the decrease finish of its steerage of 320 to 335m tonnes shipped, however barely higher than analysts’ expectations.
“A number of operational records were achieved in the second half across the Pilbara iron ore mine and rail system,” stated chief government Jakob Stausholm.
Rio Tinto stated it expects its Gudai-Darri mine 110km northwest of Newman in Western Australia to achieve nameplate capability this yr after opening final June.
The mine is Rio Tinto’s first within the Pilbara in additional than a decade and is described as its most technologically superior, a full fleet of autonomous vehicles, trains and water carts.
Rio Tinto stated its 2023 steerage was unchanged apart from mined copper, which it’s predicting it’ll produce extra of given its elevated possession of the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.
Inflation, diesel costs and labour prices imply its prices of manufacturing of Pilbara iron ore will find yourself having been barely greater than anticipated in 2022, Rio stated.
But it warned that whereas commodity costs had discovered assist within the fourth quarter, there have been quite a lot of dangers round China’s reopening, a recession within the United States and the conflict within the Ukraine.
In China, “the end to COVID controls in December and the subsequent wave of COVID cases bring high volatility in the coming quarter, with increased short-term risks of supply chain disruptions and labour shortages,” Rio stated.
At 1.22pm on Tuesday, Rio Tinto shares had been down 1.4 per cent to $120.52 amid a broader selloff within the mining sector.
