"Steady as she goes," was the reaction from Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) management to production data that, on the whole, disappointed a little on the downside, especially for copper and somewhat for iron ore.
The company said in its first quarterly report of 2024 that iron ore production fell 11% quarter on quarter to 77.9 million tonnes—a drop reflecting the ongoing quality level problems with some of the currently mined deposits at Yandicoogina, as well as weather issues.
Compared with the first quarter of 2023, the decline was less dramatic at 2%.
Rio stated that productivity improvements elsewhere in the Pilbara helped offset the quality problems, but iron ore shipments were still down 10% quarter on quarter to 78 million tonnes. Compared to a year ago, exports were down 5%.
The average iron ore price during the quarter, Rio noted, was $US123 per dry metric tonne, down 4% from the fourth quarter of 2023 and only $US2 per tonne less than the first quarter of 2023.
Rio pointed out that world iron ore prices fell 27% over the quarter.
The miner's copper production fell 3% compared to the fourth quarter, totaling 156,000 tonnes. This decline was largely driven by Kennecott mined copper production, which, while 7% higher than the first quarter of FY 2023, was 32% lower than the previous quarter.
This drop was primarily due to unplanned conveyor downtime. Rio stated that the impacted conveyor is now fully operational again.
Elsewhere, Rio Tinto's aluminum production fell 2% quarter on quarter to 826,000 tonnes, and bauxite production was down 11% to 13.4 million tonnes.
Rio maintained all its production guidance for 2024, with the most vital being iron ore production at 323 million to 338 million tonnes.
Rio CEO Jakob Stausholm was mostly pleased with the outcome for the quarter.
"We delivered stable operating results in the first quarter, including improvements at our bauxite and aluminum businesses, as we navigated seasonal challenges across our global operations.
Our full-year guidance is unchanged across all our products. We remain focused on growth in energy-transition materials, with the ramp-up at Oyu Tolgoi underground, the first full quarter of recycled aluminum production from Matalco, and further progress at Simandou, our high-grade iron ore project in Guinea," he said.
