The Live Wire



Press Release

Second quarter 2009 operations review

15 July 2009

Chief executive Tom Albanese said: "Markets remained tough in the second quarter, as expected, particularly in aluminium. The production curtailments announced in January in this product group have started to take effect and are reflected in this report. We continue to press ahead with actions to reduce costs across the board, align production with demand, and bring down levels of net debt. We have successfully completed our US$15.2 billion rights issue this month and during the course of this year we have agreed divestments to the value of US$3.7 billion."

Rio Tinto's global iron ore production was up eight per cent compared with the second quarter of 2008.

Pilbara iron ore production of 53 million tonnes (42 million tonnes on an attributable basis) up 11 per cent on the second quarter of 2008 reflected operations running at full capacity.
Following production cutbacks in response to the sharp fall in demand, bauxite production down 14 per cent, alumina down six per cent and aluminium down five per cent, compared with the second quarter of 2008. Second quarter trading in the aluminium business continued to experience difficult conditions and showed a slight improvement on the first quarter of 2009.

Mined copper production down one per cent on the second quarter of 2008. Recovery in copper grades at Kennecott Utah Copper and Grasberg, offset by lower copper grades and continued operational issues at Escondida.

Refined copper production up 23 per cent on the second quarter of 2008 from improved performance and higher concentrate grades at Kennecott Utah Copper and higher cathode production at Escondida.

Australian hard coking coal down seven per cent on the second quarter of 2008. Australian thermal coal production was up three per cent on the same period.

On 5 June 2009, Rio Tinto announced that it had entered a non-binding agreement with BHP Billiton to establish a production joint venture of both companies’ Western Australian iron ore assets.

During 2009 Rio Tinto has announced divestments totalling $3.7 billion, including $1.2 billion for the Alcan Packaging Food Americas division announced on 6 July.

Rio Tinto successfully completed its $15.2 billion rights issue on 3 July with valid acceptances of 96.97% for Rio Tinto plc and 94.76% for Rio Tinto Limited. The proceeds will be used to pay down Group debt.

All currency figures in this report are US dollars, and comments refer to Rio Tinto’s share, unless otherwise stated



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