Rio Tinto holds guidance despite lower Q1 iron ore production

Mining giant Rio Tinto on Wednesday held annual production guidance, despite a sharp fall in first-quarter iron ore shipments and production.

Iron ore production from Western Australia Pilbara assets fell 11% quarter on quarter to 78 million tonnes. Shipments were down 5% year on year to 78 million tonnes, and were 10% behind the fourth quarter. Rio cited weather disruptions leading to a lower stock drawdown compared to last year as the cause.

Rio Tinto still expects Pilbara shipments to be in a range of 323 million - 338 million tonnes.

"We delivered stable operating results in the first quarter, including improvements at our bauxite and aluminium businesses, as we navigated seasonal challenges across our global operations. Our full year guidance is unchanged across all our products," said chief executive Jakob Stausholm.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com