From Platts:
Things have changed in the land of the red dust. In Australia, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have lifted their boots off the iron ore expansion pedals. In Brazil, Vale has plenty of gas left in the tank, but doesn’t want to boast about it. The game of ‘who drives the biggest SUV?’ suddenly seems in poor taste.
In Western Australia, the major producers’ expansion machines, well-oiled and efficient over the past five years or so, have developed some technical hiccups of late and need to spend more time with the mechanic. Rio’s driverless train network in the Pilbara, which has been slowly rolled out since 2014, has software issues with some computers refusing to talk to the others. BHP’s iron ore supply chain, meanwhile, has been slowed down while maintenance work is carried out, chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said in August, while announcing a record financial loss for FY2015-16.
