Global iron ore shipments rose by 17% year-on-year and by12% quarter-on-quarter to 91.3 million tonnes.

Shipments for the first nine months of the year rose by 11%to 245.3Mt and the company remains on track to meet 2015 guidance of around340Mt.

In the Pilbara, third quarter sales were 85.6Mt (Rio share70.7Mt), up 16% year-on-year, while year-to-date sales rose by 11% to 232.1Mt(Rio share 189Mt).

Sales in the quarter exceeded production of 81.3Mt as the companydrew down on inventories built up during the infrastructure expansion phase.

“Ourexpanded Pilbara infrastructure is in place, and the iron ore product group issuccessfully commissioning and testing the system, reflected in the increasediron ore shipments to our customers during the period,” Rio CEO Sam Walsh said

Overall forthe quarter, Walsh said Rio continued to deliver efficient production, rigorouscost control and sound allocation of capital.

“Thisapproach is ensuring that our tier one assets generate substantial free cashfloweven during a challenging economic environment,” he said.

“Our cashgenerated from operations will enable us to deliver strong returns toshareholders through the cycle and our balance sheet will be furtherstrengthened by recent divestment activity.”

Asexpected, due to a decrease in grade at Escondida, mined copper production fell14% quarter-on-quarter to 115,000t, which beat Morgans expectations of 99,000t.

Rio saidits share of mined copper for 2015 would be 510,000t, narrowed from theprevious forecast of 500,000-535,000t.

The strong performancein bauxite continued, with output rising 6% to 11.3Mt, while shipments to thirdparties in the first nine months jumped 19% to nearly 20Mt.

Alumina andaluminium production for the first nine months of 2015 was slightly higher thanlast year.

Rio expectsto produce 43Mt of bauxite and 3.3Mt of aluminium in 2015, while aluminaguidance was revised down to 7.8Mt from 8Mt.

Hard cokingcoal production to September jumped 10% due to improvements at Kestrel, whilewet weather resulted in a 9% drop in thermal coal output.

Argyleperformed strongly, thanks to the ramp-up of the underground, with a 43% jumpin carats produced.

Rossinguranium production dropped 30% due to lower grades and recoveries, whiletitanium oxide slag output dropped 23% due to production curtailments.

Pre-tax andpre-divestment exploration and evaluation expenditure charged to the profit andloss account so far this year was $US392 million, down from $566 million forthe same period of 2014.

 

Shares inRio dropped nearly 1% to $A53.74.