Coal & Allied - 3QPR 2004

Rio Tinto PLC
20 October 2004



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 and Allied production report for the quarter ended 30 September 2004


                                                3Q         4Q         1Q         2Q         3Q    12 months

'000 tonnes (100% basis) (a)                  2003       2003       2004       2004       2004         2003

Hunter Valley Operations
Thermal coal production                      2,028      2,620      2,255      2,738      2,838        9,146
Semi-soft coking coal production               875        381        371        729        689        2,862

Mount Thorley Operations
Thermal coal production                        416        433        514        710        722        1,720
Semi-soft coking coal production               369        377        158        240        258        1,432

Bengalla Mine
Thermal coal production                      1,122      2,008      1,075      1,525      1,737        6,203

Warkworth Mine
Thermal coal production                      1,212      1,371      1,217      1,394      1,381        5,369
Semi-soft coking coal production               127         93        237        447        479          500

Total coal production                        6,147      7,284      5,826      7,784      8,105       27,232

Total sales ('000 tonnes) (a)                6,802      7,278      6,424      7,486      7,931       27,887




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





Third quarter production from all mines was above the second quarter of 2004 and
the corresponding period of 2003.  Moving from a five-day to seven-day roster at
Mt Thorley/Warkworth continued to deliver significant improvement.



Port capacity rationing arrangements, introduced in the second quarter of 2004,
helped to manage the Newcastle ship queue successfully.



During the quarter there was no exploration activity.



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
Peter Cunningham                                    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




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