Rio Tinto says growth back on the agenda

Rio Tinto Ltd says growth is firmly back on the its agenda and has a range of
expansion and investment options competing for capital after reporting a solid but
not outstanding production result.
Chief executive Tom Albanese said the mining giant would move ahead with projects in
Australia now that uncertainty surrounding the proposed new mining tax has been
removed.
Mr Albanese said this year continued to shape up well for Rio Tinto, which was
driving its operations at close to capacity amid strong markets for most of its
products.
"The overall long-term demand outlook is positive," he said in a statement on
Wednesday.
However, recent fears about a possible double-dip recession in OECD countries and a
slight slowdown in Chinese growth had led to some weakening in market sentiment, Mr
Albanese said.
"We believe this pattern of volatility in the global economy is set to continue."
Rio Tinto said its share of global iron ore production in the second quarter of 2010
of 43.6 million tonnes (Mt) was down two per cent on the same period last year.
Research house Mine Life Pty Ltd senior resources analyst Gavin Wendt said it was a
solid result but not outstanding.
"The coal result was encouraging," Mr Wendt said.
He said the market was looking for a significant bounce back in iron ore production,
with first quarter output affected by the wet season in the Pilbara, but the second
quarter result was slightly disappointing.
Rio Tinto announced separately on Wednesday it had raised $US200 million ($A226.9
million) for dredging at its Cape Lambert port in Western Australia under plans to
expand its Pilbara iron ore output to 330 million tonnes a year (Mtpa), up from 219
Mtpa currently.
Rio Tinto said the Pilbara system continued to operate close to its nameplate capacity.
Including its Canadian iron ore mining operations, Rio Tinto expects its full year
global iron ore production to be about 234 Mt.
Rio Tinto's share of mined and refined copper production for the second quarter was
down 19 per cent and 11 per cent at 167,900 tonnes and 90,600 tonnes compared to the
same period in 2009, respectively.
Its share of mined and refined copper production for the full year is expected to be
690,000 tonnes and 380,000 tonnes, respectively.
Rio Tinto's second quarter alumina output on an attributable basis was up five
percent at 2.24 Mt while aluminium production was one per cent higher at 952,000
tonnes.
Its share of alumina and aluminium production for the full year is expected to be
9.4 Mt and 3.7 Mt, respectively.
Australian hard coking coal production for the second quarter was up 26 per cent on
the same period in 2009 at 2.3 Mt following increased investment at the Queensland
operations.
Using the same comparisons, other Australian coal production was down four per cent
at 5.5 Mt.
Rio Tinto's share of Australian hard coking, semi-soft coking coal and thermal coal
production for the full year is expected to be 9.4 Mt, 3.3 Mt and 19.7 Mt,
respectively.
The mining giant's share of mined gold production for the second quarter was down 34
per cent at 169,000 ounces compared to the previous corresponding period.
Rio Tinto realised $67 million from the divestment of central exploration properties
in the first half of 2010, up from $73 million in the first half of 2009 when it was
working hard to reduce its debt.
Rio Tinto shares closed up 83 cents, or 1.25 per cent, at $67.38.



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