(Reuters) - Rio Tinto eked out higher iron ore shipments in the third quarter, largely in line with expectations, and said it remained on track for first production from its Simandou high-grade iron ore project in Guinea next year.
The Simfer mine in the project will ramp up over 30 months to an annualised capacity of 60 million tonnes (Mt) per year following the first output, the world's largest iron ore producer said on Wednesday.
Rio is also on track for first lithium production from its Rincon project in Argentina by the end of this year. The global miner recently agreed to buy Arcadium Lithium ALTM.N for $6.7 billion in a deal that will make it the world's third largest miner of the battery metal.
The company shipped 84.5 Mt of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended Sept. 30, helped by operational improvements.
That was largely in line with a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 84.74 Mt and higher than 83.9 Mt a year earlier.
Iron ore prices remained under pressure for the larger part of the third quarter due to dimmed demand prospects in top consumer China's steel market amid persistently weak property prices.
Focus now shifts to the likely boost from recent measures to revive the country's property market struggling with a prolonged downturn.
Pilbara iron ore production in the three months ended September rose to 84.1 Mt from 83.5 Mt a year earlier.
Rio said iron ore production from its Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) operations fell 11% following site-wide shutdown due to forest fires in mid-July.
The company cut its IOC iron ore pellets and concentrate production forecast to 9.1 to 9.6 Mt for 2024 following the shutdowns.
Mined copper production was marginally lower as higher output from Escondida and Oyu Tolgoi were offset by a 44% drop in production from Kennecott due to operational snags.
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