Australia’s two largest iron ore miners, BHP and Rio Tinto, have both reported solid increases in production from their respective Pilbara mines in Western Australia.
BHP on July 18 reported its WA iron ore operation produced 275 million tonnes of iron ore in FY18, up 3% on FY17.
The miner also delivered a 7% increase in metallurgical coal production, to 43 million tonnes, a 32% rise in copper production to 1.75 million tonnes, and a flat result for energy coal, at 29 million tonnes.
“We have delivered a strong finish to the 2018 financial year with an 8% increase in annual production and record output at Western Australian Iron Ore, Queensland Coal and at our Spence copper mine in Chile,” BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said.
“We further simplified our portfolio with the announced divestment of Cerro Colorado in Chile and Gregory Crinum in Australia and our investment in South Flank supports our ability to supply low cost, high quality products into Asia.”
Rio Tinto, which reports on a calendar-year basis, exported 168.8 million tonnes of iron ore in the first half of 2018, 9% up on the same period of 2017. 88.5 million tonnes were exported in the second quarter, up 14% year-on-year.
Rio also announced a 7% growth in bauxite production in the first half of 2018, to 13.28 million tonnes, a 4% decline in aluminium to 1.7 million tonnes, and a 42% rise in copper mined to 296,100 tonnes.
“Operational performance was solid across most commodities, rounding out a strong first half performance for the group,” Rio Tinto boss J-S Jacques said.
“Our increasingly flexible Pilbara iron ore system continued to perform well. Our bauxite and copper businesses also delivered strong operating results, demonstrating the success of our ongoing mine-to-market productivity program, which is increasingly important in an environment of rising cost inflation.”