Q3 2023 operational highlights and other key announcements.
Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said: “We delivered another quarter of progress and maintained
momentum at our Pilbara iron ore operations. We continued to make good headway ramping up our Oyu Tolgoi
high-grade underground copper mine, our Kitimat aluminium smelter returned to full production, and we safely
restarted the smelter and refinery at Kennecott after completing the largest rebuild in its history. We have more
to do as we work towards sustainable performance improvements across our business.
“We took real steps to build our portfolio of materials needed for the future, signing agreements that will see us
take a leading position in recycled aluminium in North America and agreeing to enter a joint venture with
Codelco to explore for copper in Chile. We also completed further infrastructure agreements with our partners
for the world class Simandou iron ore project.
“We are making strong progress towards building the Rio Tinto of the future, striking a balance between
disciplined performance in evolving market conditions, investing to generate valuable long-term growth and
delivering attractive shareholder returns.”
Q3 2023 operational highlights and other key announcements
• Our all-injury frequency rate of 0.36 improved from the third quarter of 2022 (0.39), and was in line with
the prior quarter (0.36). We continue to learn from process safety reviews completed in the third quarter
following previously reported incidents at our Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium (RTIT) Sorel-Tracy complex
and Kennecott, and are planning to further enhance safety at these operations.
• Pilbara operations produced 83.5 million tonnes (100% basis) in the third quarter, 1% lower than the
corresponding period of 2022. Shipments were 83.9 million tonnes (100% basis), 1% higher than the
corresponding period of 2022. We continue to expect full year shipments in the upper half of the original
320 to 335 million tonne range.
• In early October, we hosted a site tour of our Pilbara operations for investors and analysts. Presentation
materials for this visit are available on our website.
• Bauxite production of 13.9 million tonnes was 2% higher than the third quarter of 2022 as we achieved
the initial benefits of stabilising our operations, particularly at Weipa where equipment reliability and
performance improved.
• Aluminium production of 0.8 million tonnes was 9% higher than the third quarter of 2022 as we returned
to full capacity at our Kitimat smelter and completed cell recovery efforts at our Boyne smelter. All our
other smelters continued to demonstrate stable performance during the quarter.
• On 21 July, we announced we had entered into an agreement with Giampaolo Group, one of North
America's largest fully-integrated metal management businesses, to form a joint venture to manufacture
and market recycled aluminium products. Under the terms of the agreement, Rio Tinto will acquire a
50% equity stake in Giampaolo Group’s wholly-owned Matalco business for $700 million subject to
usual closing adjustments. Matalco operates six facilities in the United States and one in Canada, with
the capacity to produce approximately 900,000 tonnes of recycled aluminium per annum. Receipt of
customary regulatory approvals for the transaction is progressing well, with completion now expected
around the end of 2023 (previously first half of 2024).
Item downloadable via here;
https://www.riotinto.com/en/invest/fina ... productionNo doubt (maybe) a RNS will be issued about this too at 0700hrs today.
Ian (I hold).
C.