Rio Tinto Group
Rio Tinto Group
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Rio Tinto is forecasting higher iron ore shipments in the coming year after weather and operational challenges saw exports from its Pilbara operations in Western Australia slip to 327.4Mt in FY2019, 3% lower than the prior period.
In reaching its FY2020 production guidance of 330-343Mt, the miner expects more stability in global GDP growth.
The Perth-based Monadelphous/Lycopodium Mondium J/V has won the $A400M contract for the design/construction of Rio Tinto’s Western Turner Syncline Phase 2 (WTS2) iron ore mine in N Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Rio Tinto subsidiary ERA has posted total uranium oxide production of 1,751t for the Dec year (FY2019), down from 1,999t in FY2018 but within production guidance of 1,400-1,800t from processing primary ore stockpiles at its Ranger mine in Australia’s NT.
Stockpile processing continues alongside ERA’s rehabilitation following the completion of openpit mining.
Rio Tinto continues to build its exploration interests in Western Australia’s exciting Paterson province, moving to 51% interest and operatorship of the 1,330sqkm Citadel project under a 2015 earn-in agreement with Antipa Minerals.
The Citadel project is 5km east of Rio’s Winu copper-gold-silver deposit and 80km north of Newcrest’s Telfer gold mine.
The project currently hosts a global mineral resource of 63.8Mt @ 0.8g/t for 1.6Moz gold and 0.2% for 127,000t copper.
Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay mineral sands mine in South Africa is expected to restore full operations in early Jan, a month after an upsurge in community violence resulted in the global miner halting all mining and reducing smelter production on Dec 4.
The phased restart of the project began Dec 30 after talks led by KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala with all stakeholders aimed at stabilising the situation to allow work to begin on resolving community issues.
The West Australian government keeps iron ore giant Rio Tinto on track for an early 2020 start to the latest phase of its program to sustain Pilbara production capacity with the pre-Christmas approval of its $US749M Western Turner Syncline development.
Construction work on the latest phase of Rio’s 100%-owned Western Turner operation, 35km NW of Tom Price, includes a new crusher and 13km overland conveyor to transport crushed ore to existing transfer infrastructure.
Australian engineer Primero Group has continued its significant growth with the award by Rio Tinto of a $A115M EPC contract for the mine infrastructure area at its $US2.6B greenfield Koodaideri iron ore development in WA’s Pilbara.
Work is starting immediately on design, fabrication, construction and commissioning, with completion scheduled for mid-2021.
Kennecott Copper is buying six more years of life and close to 1Mt of additional refined copper production at its Utah, USA operations through a $US1.5B investment approved by parent company Rio Tinto.
The investment, starting next year and spread over 6 years, will support phase 2 of the South Wall Pushback project at Kennecott’s mining operation close to Salt Lake City to access a new area of the orebody.
An upsurge in community violence has led Rio Tinto to halt all mining and reduce smelter operations at its 74%-owned Richards Bay Minerals heavy mineral sands business in South Africa.
The global miner says it’s acting to ensure safety and security after a worker was shot and seriously injured amid increasing attacks on employees at the project in northern KwaZulu-Natal province.
RBM’s 2019 titanium dioxide slag production is now expected to be at the bottom end of its 1.2-1.4Mt guidance.
Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals is looking for strategic partners to develop new copper projects and a J/V with Rio Tinto in Peru could be on the cards, CEO Philip Pascall says, Reuters reports.
On the sidelines of a London conference, he said there “are a number of different potential players, not necessarily mining companies.” When asked if First Quantum could partner with Rio to develop a copper mine in Peru, Pascall said that would be one of the options. A Rio spokesman declined to comment.