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PrintRio Tinto PLC (RIO) said it had begun shipping iron ore from its newly expanded port, rail and mine facilities in Western Australia, one of the biggest mining projects in the resource-rich country.
The first 165,000-metric-ton shipment is bound for Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp.'s (5401.TO) Kimitsu plant in Tokyo, said Rio Tinto, which has boosted annual capacity at its Australian operations to 290 million tons.
"Given the demanding operating environment in Western Australia over the recent period, this stands as a noteworthy achievement," Rio Tinto iron-ore chief executive Andrew Harding said in a statement. "Our focus will now be to ensure the ramp-up to full run-rate is achieved safely and efficiently."
Construction of port, rail and power infrastructure for a second expansion phase, which would increase Rio's capacity to 360 million tons, is continuing, the company said. The world's No. 2 producer of the steelmaking ingredient will shortly decide whether to invest around US$5 billion to increase output to that level, it added.
"A number of options for mine capacity growth are under evaluation including incremental tons from further low-cost productivity improvements, expansion of existing mines and the potential development of new mines," Rio Tinto said.
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