Australia: Rio Tinto's iron ore shipments rise by 1% y-o-y in Q3CY23

Rio Tinto, the world's leading iron ore miner, recorded shipments at 83.9 million tonnes (mnt) in Q3CY'23, an increase of 1% y-o-y from Q3CY'22. Shipments rose by 6% q-o-q in Q3 compared to Q2.

All figures mentioned are on 100% basis, which means that the shipments include material shipped from the Pilbara mines to the portside trading facility in China, which may not be sold onwards by the group during the same period.

Iron ore production falls in Q3

Iron ore production in Q3 fell by 1% y-o-y to 83.5 mnt against Q3CY'22. It inched up by 3% q-o-q in Q3 compared to Q2.

However, with continued operational improvements across the Pilbara system, and the implementation of the Safe Production System, full-year shipments are now expected to be in the upper half of the original 320 to 335 mnt range.

IOC's pellet production decreases

The Iron Ore Company of Canada's (IOC's) iron ore pellets and concentrate production in Q2CY'23 fell by 14% y-o-y to 2.4 mnt against Q3CY'22. Operations were impacted by extended plant downtime and conveyor belt failures, while production also recovered from wildfires which took place in Northern Quebec in the prior quarter.

At IOC, iron ore pellets and concentrate production guidance for CY'23 has been reduced to 9.3-9.8 mnt as against the earlier 10-11 mnt.

IOC is a joint venture between Rio Tinto, Mitsubishi and the Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Corp.