Rio Tinto’s iron ore sales soar to record levels on Chinese demand

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto today reported record production of iron ore in the last quarter of 2009, driven by continuing high demand from China, which was forced to buy a majority of the ore from the spot market at record high prices in the absence of long-term iron ore contracts with gthe mining giants BHP, Vale and Rio.

Although in the midst of unprecedented friction with China, its largest buyer, the world's third largest iron ore miner,  releasing its fourth quarter 2009 operations review, today said that its global iron ore production was up 49 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2008.

The UK and Australia listed miner's global iron ore sales set a new quarterly record of 61 million tonnes, while its global iron ore production in 2009 also set a new record by exceeding 217 million tonnes, a 13 per cent increase on 2008.

Its iron ore production at its Pilbara operations in Western Australia was 56 million tonnes, up 54 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2008. The miner said that the Pilbara system consistently operated above its nameplate capacity in order to supply continuing strong growth in demand.
Chief executive Tom Albanese said, "We are seeing recovery across most of our key commodities, although we continue to be cautious on the state of the global economy going into 2010 as stimulus packages start to wind down.''

''This was another very strong quarter for iron ore production, driven by continuing high demand from China. In the Pilbara we achieved record sales for both the quarter and the full year and both global and Pilbara production set new records in 2009, he added.

The miner also reported higher production in copper, gold and coal, while production was down in uranium and aluminium for the reporting quarter.