In the past two days, Rio Tinto and BHP have both confirmed full year iron ore production guidance. From the AFR yesterday:
In iron ore, Rio reported a 7 per cent fall in production from its flagship Pilbara operations to 57.8 million tonnes in the first quarter, compared to the December quarter, as a result of wet weather. However, Pilbara production was 4 per cent higher than its first-quarter production a year ago as a result of ongoing expansion work.
Pilbara iron ore sales of 55 million tonnes were lower than production as a result of port closures caused by three tropical cyclones during the period.
…The miner left its full-year guidance of 265 million tonnes of production – including that from its Canadian operations under review for a possible sale – unchanged, subject to weather constraints. Rio said an expansion to 290 million tonnes of annual production remained on track to be completed in the third quarter.
The expansion will add 53 million tonnes of capacity per annum versus 2012. About the same as Fortescue will be adding through its Kings expansion at and the same time.
Rio’s release also reiterated that:
The expansion from current operating capacity to 290 Mt/a is fully approved. All capital expenditure for the port, rail and power components of the phase two expansion to 360 Mt/a has also been approved. The new mines required to grow production from 290 to 360 Mt/a are still in study, pending future investment decisions.
BHP today announced the following. Also from the AFR:
BHP Billiton has maintained its full-year production guidance for key commodities after reporting results from its major divisions slightly below expectations in the March quarter.
The company shipped 44.4 million tonnes of iron ore from its Pilbara operations, including the share held by joint venture partners, despite being affected by cyclones during the March quarter. Shipments were slightly ahead of production, which was 44.2 million tonnes. That equates to an annualised rate of 177 million tonnes.
Overall, including its pellet operations in Brazil, BHP’s iron ore production fell 5 per cent relative to the December quarter but was 6 per cent higher than the March quarter last year.
…BHP’s full-year forecast of 183 million tonnes of Pilbara production remains unchanged, with the miner saying an annualised production rate of 200 million tonnes is expected in the June quarter as a result of recent expansions.
Tiddler Atlas Iron has reported production this morning. From BS:
Atlas Iron Ltd is on track to meet full year shipping guidance after achieving record iron ore shipments in the March quarter.
In the three months to March 31, Atlas Iron shipped a record 1.855 million wet tonnes of iron ore, a six per cent lift on the December quarter figure of $1.745 million wet tonnes.
In February, Atlas said production was on track to increase from 8 million tonnes to 10 million tonnes per year by the end of the current financial year.
And in case you’re wondering what all of these big committed production expansions add up to, I’ve drawn you this chart:
You do the math.
