Coal & Allied - 2QPR 2005

Rio Tinto PLC
20 July 2005

Rio Tinto's 75.7 per cent owned subsidiary, Coal & Allied Industries Limited,
issued the following news release in Australia. All dollars are Australian
currency.



Coal & Allied production report for the quarter ended 30 June 2005


                                             2Q         3Q         4Q         1Q         2Q    Full Year
'000 tonnes (100% basis)(a)                2004       2004       2004       2005       2005         2004

Hunter Valley Operations

Thermal coal production                   2,738      2,838      3,340      2,765      2,497       11,172
Semi-soft coking coal production            729        689        308        570        530        2,097
Mount Thorley Operations

Thermal coal production                     710        722        817        718        612        2,762
Semi-soft coking coal production            240        258        129        268        458          785

Bengalla Mine

Thermal coal production                   1,525      1,737        975      1,430      1,274        5,312
Warkworth Mine

Thermal coal production                   1,394      1,381      1,560      1,380      1,335        5,552
Semi-soft coking coal production            447        479        239         50        145        1,403

Total coal production                     7,784      8,105      7,368      7,181      6,850       29,083

Total sales ('000 tonnes)(a)              7,486      7,931      6,835      7,860      6,564       28,677


(a) Sales relate only to coal mined by the operations and exclude traded coal.



Production from all operations was in line with constraints set by the Capacity
Balancing System at Port Waratah Coal Services in Newcastle.  June sales were
affected by longer vessel queues due to producers scheduling of vessels to meet
second quarter shipment allocations.



No exploration activity was undertaken.



Coal & Allied continued work on the development of the Mount Pleasant deposit
(Coal & Allied 100 per cent).





For further information, please contact:

LONDON                                               AUSTRALIA

Media Relations                                      Media Relations
Lisa Cullimore                                       Ian Head
Office:  [phone]                        Office:  [phone]
Mobile: [phone]                         Mobile: [phone]

Investor Relations                                   Investor Relations

Nigel Jones                                          Dave Skinner
Office: [phone]                         Office:  [phone]
Mobile: [phone]                         Mobile: [phone]
Richard Brimelow                                     Susie Creswell
Office:  [phone]                        Office:  [phone]
Mobile: [phone]                         Mobile: [phone]



Website: www.riotinto.com




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange