Rio Tinto Reports Diamond Output Up

Rio Tinto reports that its Argyle Diamonds unit produced 8.63 million carats of diamonds at its Western Australian mines in the first quarter of this year – down from 9.01 million carats in the fourth quarter but substantially more than twice the 3.61 million carats in the first quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, 1.75 million carats of diamonds were mined at the Diavik mine in Canada's Northwest Territories in which Rio Tinto has a 60 percent holding. That figure compares with 1.50 million carats in the fourth quarter of last year and 1.54 million carats in the first quarter.

At its Murowa Diamonds unit in Zimbabwe, where ore mining and processing began in the third quarter of last year, 67,000 carats of diamonds were mined compared with 44,000 carats in the fourth quarter and just 3,000 carats in the third quarter.

Rio Tinto said production of most principal commodities in the first quarter was significantly above the corresponding period of 2004.