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Second quarter 2005 operations review
20 July 2005
- Most operations continued to produce at, or near, capacity in response to strong demand.
- Hamersley produced and shipped record volumes of iron ore in the second quarter as commissioning of the major infrastructure expansion progressed. Production of both copper and gold from the Grasberg mine was also significantly higher than in the comparative period of 2004 when the focus was on recovery from the 2003 material slippage.
- Mining at Kennecott Utah Copper favoured higher molybdenum grade ore to take advantage of the strong market for that product. First half molybdenum production was in excess of full year production for 2004. The scheduled smelter maintenance shut down, which impacted refined copper and gold production, was completed as planned.
- First half alumina production was 45 per cent higher than the first half of 2004 due to the ramp-up of the new Comalco Alumina Refinery and continued process stability at QAL and Eurallumina. All the aluminium smelters continued to operate at, or close to, capacity.
- Australian coal production remained constrained by port and rail capacity. The approval of a queue management system at Dalrymple Bay resulted in shorter vessel queues, but only towards the end of the period.
- An agreement to form a joint venture to develop the Hope Downs iron ore deposits in Western Australia was announced in July 2005. The development of the project will further strengthen Rio Tinto’s position as Australia’s prime supplier of iron ore.
All currency figures in this report are US dollars unless otherwise stated
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