FILE PHOTO: A train loaded with iron ore can be seen near the Fortescue Solomon iron ore mine located in the Valley of the Kings, south of Port Hedland, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia December 2, 2013. REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo
July 15, 2021
(Reuters) – Global iron ore miner Rio Tinto raised its full-year iron ore production cost guidance on Friday due to increased labour and input costs, while higher-than-expected rainfall in the West Pilbara region impacted its second-quarter shipments.
The world’s biggest iron ore producer now expects to ship the steel-making commodity near the lower end of its range of 325 million tonnes (mt) and 340 mt in 2021.
The miner now expects unit cost of $18.0-$18.5 per tonne for the year, up from its previous estimate of $16.7-17.7 per tonne.
The world’s biggest iron ore producer shipped 76.3 million tonnes (mt) of the steel-making commodity for the three months ended June 30, compared with 86.7 mt a year earlier. It slightly beat a UBS estimate of 76 mt.
Production for the quarter was impacted by rainfall in the West Pilbara region, Rio said, as it posted an 9% drop in output to 75.9 Mt.
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar and Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
