Rio Tinto Releases Fourth Quarter Production Results

•

Pilbara iron ore shipments of 327 million tonnes (100% basis) were 3% lower than 2018, primarily impacted by weather and operational challenges in the first half of 2019 and our active decision to protect the quality of the Pilbara Blend. In addition to direct sales from Australia, we commenced trials of portside trading in October 2019.

•

On 27 November 2019, we announced a $749 million investment in the Greater Tom Price operations (Western Turner Syncline Phase 2) in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, to sustain production capacity.

•

Bauxite production of 55 million tonnes was 9% higher than 2018, underpinned by the successful ramp-up of the Amrun mine in Queensland, Australia. Third party shipments of 40 million tonnes were 21% higher than 2018.

•

Aluminium production of 3.2 million tonnes was 2% lower than 2018, primarily reflecting a preventive safety shutdown of one of the three pot-lines at ISAL in Iceland and earlier than planned pot relining at Kitimat in British Columbia, Canada in the second half.

•

On 23 October 2019, we announced a strategic review of our interest in the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in New Zealand, to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

•

On 3 December 2019, we announced the approval of a $1.5 billion investment at Kennecott in the US, phase two of the south wall pushback project, extending operations to 2032.

•

Mined copper production of 577 thousand tonnes was 5% lower than 2018, reflecting lower copper grades, partially offset by higher throughput. Lower copper grades at Kennecott impacted the fourth quarter in particular: this is expected to persist until we access higher grades from the end of 2020, resulting from phase one of the south wall pushback project.

•

Following the signing of renewable power agreements in Chile, Escondida has raised a provision related to the cancellation of existing coal contracts. We have recognised a charge of approximately $200 million against 2019 underlying EBITDA.

•

At the Oyu Tolgoi underground project in Mongolia, we completed the primary production shaft (shaft 2) in October. Work continued on the mine design and, overall we remain within the cost and schedule ranges as announced in July 2019. We continue to expect to complete the mine design in the first half of 2020 and the Definitive Estimate of cost and schedule in the second half of 2020.

•

Titanium dioxide slag production of 1.2 million tonnes was 8% higher than 2018, reflecting continued operational improvement and the restart of furnaces in line with market conditions. Fourth quarter production was impacted by the curtailment of operations at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) in South Africa, following an escalation in violence in the surrounding communities. A phased restart commenced at the end of December.

•

Production of pellets and concentrate at the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) was 18% higher than 2018, when strike action occurred. Fourth quarter production was 10% lower than the same quarter of 2018 due to unplanned equipment-related downtime.

•

On 18 November 2019, we announced that we would support Energy Resources of Australia Limited’s (ERA) plans for a renounceable entitlement offer to raise $324 million for the rehabilitation of the Ranger Project Area in Australia’s Northern Territory.

•

Exploration and evaluation spend in 2019 was $624 million, 28% higher than 2018, primarily reflecting increased activity at Resolution Copper in the US and on the Winu and Falcon advanced projects in Australia and Canada. We achieved a major permitting milestone at Resolution with the release of an independently prepared Draft Environmental Impact Statement in August 2019.

•

In 2019, we repurchased approximately $1.6 billion of Rio Tinto plc shares (28.4 million) on-market.

•

Our guidance is framed by expectations of general stability in global GDP growth in 2020, tempered by negative risks, including geopolitical tensions and oil price volatility. In this environment, we will continue to monitor and adjust production levels and product mix to meet customer requirements in 2020, in line with our value over volume strategy.

•

Iron ore shipments and bauxite production guidance are subject to weather and market conditions.

•

Aluminium guidance reflects a continued focus on capacity creep, offset by earlier than planned pot relining at Kitimat.

•

Mined copper guidance reflects lower grades at Kennecott as mining transitions from the east to south wall. We expect to access higher, more consistent grade ore from late 2020.

•

Diamonds guidance reflects the expected closure of Argyle in the fourth quarter of 2020 and lower grades at Diavik.

•

Titanium dioxide slag guidance assumes return to normal operations at RBM in early 2020.