Rio Tinto announces second quarter production results, titanium slag output increased by 14% year-on-year

Rio Tinto’s CEO Jakob Stausholm said: “The global economy, especially China’s strong economic recovery, is very focused on providing customers with as many products as possible. However, we faced some challenges in the first half of the year, especially in the Pilbara. In operations, these challenges are affected by the replacement of mine joints and heavy rainfall. The intensified COVID-19 constraints have led to many travel restrictions, further increasing business pressure and limiting our ability to reach more people, especially in Western Australia and Mongolia , In order to provide operational improvements or maintenance plans to speed up the progress of the project.

"Safety is our number one priority, and our performance in this area is still strong under challenging conditions. However, as I pointed out shortly after taking office, in business, we have not reached the level we want. Our performance in the first half of the year once again proved my belief that we have identified the right priorities for strengthening our business: to become the best operator, strive to obtain an impeccable ESG certificate, perform well in development, and gain a strong society License. We have made initial progress on our priorities, but there is still a lot of work to be done to make Rio Tinto stronger, so we can continue to provide higher returns to shareholders and invest in maintaining and expanding our portfolio, And make a broader contribution to society."

Second quarter operation update On May 24, our colleague Nico Swart died in a shooting incident while driving to work at the Richards Bay Minerals Company (RBM) in South Africa. We sympathize with Nico's family and provide continuous support to his family, friends and colleagues.

We expect iron ore shipments to be at the low end of the guidance range, which will still be affected by the COVID-19 disruption, the connection and upgrade of alternative brownfield mines, and cultural heritage management.

The output of copper and bauxite mined is expected to be at the low end of the guidance range. Due to the escalation of the security situation, there is a risk when the South African RBM resumes operations, so the annual titanium slag production guidance has been cancelled. We are working with local and federal governments and the police to ensure that we can resume operations safely.

Due to the continuous production of Fer et Titane (RTFT) Metallurgical Union in Quebec, the output of titanium slag was 298,000 tons, an increase of 14% over the second quarter of 2020. After weeks of violent destruction, our results-based management system was severely hampered. Therefore, we declared force majeure and all operations were reduced.

Pilbara iron ore production was 75.9 million tons, 9% lower than the second quarter of 2020, due to above-average rainfall in the western Pilbara, closed to allow alternative mines to be connected, processing plant availability and cultural heritage management. Shipment volume was 76.3 million tons, a decrease of 12% from the second quarter of 2020, and inventory was reduced.

The output of bauxite was 13.7 million tons, down 6% from the second quarter of 2020. The reason was that the system continued to be unstable after severe wet weather occurred in eastern Australia in the first quarter.

Aluminum production was 800,000 tons, an increase of 4% over the second quarter of 2020. The ISAL smelter in Iceland and the Becancour smelter in Quebec are already operating at full capacity, and the Kitimat smelter in British Columbia is about to complete the refueling cycle.

The output of mined copper was 115,500 tons, a decrease of 13% from the second quarter of 2020. Due to the long-term impact of COVID-19, Escondida's recovery rate and throughput are low, and it plans to relocate the Kennicott pit in April Crusher.

The ore has not been sterilized, and we expect to recover materials from the landslide, which is mainly copper-bearing ore. However, due to the particle size distribution of the material, the mining speed will be slower, so some high-grade production planned for the end of 2021 will be postponed to 2022.

Iron Ore Corporation of Canada (IOC) pellet and concentrate production decreased by 2% compared to the second quarter of 2020 due to labor and equipment availability issues affecting the product. The force majeure announced after the port fire in April has been lifted.