Rio reaches 290Mt/y Pilbara capacity ahead of schedule
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Australia’s biggest iron-ore producer, Rio Tinto, has brought on line its Pilbara expansion to 290-million tonnes a year two months ahead of schedule, the group announced on Wednesday.
Rio Tinto iron-ore CEO Andrew Harding said that this was a significant milestone for the company, adding value for the business and its shareholders by moving more iron-ore through the Pilbara at low costs.
“It builds on an impressive track record of delivery, achieved through our culture of driving performance and the quality of our people.”
He noted that the achievement further underlines the world-class status of Rio’s Western Australian iron-ore operations and followed the completion of the infrastructure component in September 2013, which itself was delivered four months ahead of schedule and $400-million under budget.
“We are now focused on the next phase of our expansion towards 360-million tonnes a year. The infrastructure is on schedule for completion in a little over 12 months and, from a base run rate of 290-million tonnes a year, we have a rapid, low-cost pathway to increase mine production capacity by more than 60-million tonnes a year between now and 2017,” Harding said.
The expansion to a 360-million-tonne-a-year capacity would require an investment of about A$880-million, and would see Rio expand the West Angelas mine production from 29-million tonnes a year to 35-million tonnes a year.
Production at its Western Turner Syncline mine would also increase, from 25-million tonnes a year to 30-million tonnes a year.
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