Mixed Mining Results for Rio Tinto in Q3 2015

(IDEX Online News) – British-Australian miner Rio Tinto has released its third quarter results, which highlight mixed fortunes for its Argyle mine in Western Australia and Diavik in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

At Argyle, the ramp-up of production from the underground mine was the key factor in the results. The number of carats produced is 43 percent higher in this third quarter than in the same period a year previously (3,514,000 vs. 2,003,080). The first nine months of 2015 have also shown a 37-percent increase on the same period in 2014, with the number of carats produced standing at 10,105,000.

Production at Diavik, however, is down 24 percent in the third quarter – compared with the same period a year previously – the company recovering only 761,000 carats. The results from Diavik in the first nine months of the year are down 14 percent compared with the same period in 2014.

The company also revised down its share of diamond production from 20 million carats to 18 million, reflecting the decision to pause final product processing in the fourth quarter at Argyle in light of current market conditions.