Rio Tinto is taking copper straight to the bank with a sudden rise in prices coinciding with the major’s announcement of a 26 per cent production increase across 2024.
Over 202,000 tonnes (t) of copper was mined from Rio operations in the last year, with the miner’s Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia spearheading the glut.
Oyu Tolgoi is one of the world’s largest known copper deposits and since Rio went underground at the site in 2023, is expected to steadily ramp up to produce 500,000t of copper per year in its peak.
The news of Rio’s copper success comes as the commodity enjoys a rise in prices, increasing six per cent over the past week.
China is in the driver seat for demand, with imports reaching a 13-month high in December at 559,000t.
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm is confident the mining giant is on track to make the most of copper’s prosperity.
“We are making strong progress in delivering organic growth from our major projects,” Stausholm said.
“The Oyu Tolgoi underground copper mine in Mongolia continues to successfully ramp up.
“We remain focused on executing our strategy to deliver attractive shareholder returns and build a stronger, more diversified, and growing business, driven by our confidence in the long-term demand for materials essential to the global energy transition.”
“Growing business” is certainly the operative term.
In 2024, Rio spent $US935 million ($1.5 billion) on exploration, up from $US855 million ($1.3 billion) in 2023. Of that, nearly a quarter went towards lithium, 36 per cent was claimed by copper, 14 per cent by iron ore and just two per cent on aluminium.
Pilbara projects progressing
Rio has also declared construction of its $1.3 million Western Range iron ore project in the Pilbara is now over 90 per cent complete, with and overland conveyor belt installation finalised.
Western Range’s expected annual production capacity of 25 million tonnes will help sustain production of the Pilbara Blend from Rio Tinto’s existing Paraburdoo mining hub.
Western Range is held in join partnership with China Baowu Steel Group, who last week signed a downstream iron ore processing deal with Fortescue.
The Rhodes Ridge prefeasibility study is expected to be completed this year, which is targeting an initial capacity of up to 40 million tonnes of iron ore per year from the east Pilbara. First ore is expected by the end of the decade.
Rio Tinto is planning to spend more than A$400 million on exploration at the site over five years from 2024 to 2028 as part of the ongoing study phases.
