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The Miner Says It Is Maintaining Guidance Despite an Equipment Breakdown, Wet Weather
MELBOURNE, Australia—Rio Tinto RIO.LN +2.73% PLC achieved record output of iron ore in the first half of the year despite an equipment breakdown and unseasonably wet weather.
Helping its outlook further, the world’s second-largest producer of iron ore after Brazil’s Vale SA VALE5.BR +1.02% said it is recovering from a landslide at a major copper mine in the U.S. faster than anticipated.
Rio Tinto held to its output guidance for the year and said the expansion of operations in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia to 290 million metric tons a year is on track to start this quarter.
However, the boost to its bottom line from higher volumes will be muted by a volatile price for iron ore, which accounts for around 80% of Rio Tinto’s earnings. The average spot price for the steelmaking commodity fell 2.8% in the first six months of this year compared with a year earlier.