Coal & Allied - 3QOR 2007
Rio Tinto PLC
17 October 2007
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 September 2007
CNA 3Q 4Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 9 months 9 months
'000 tonnes (100% basis) interest 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2006 2007
Hunter Valley Operations 100%
Thermal coal production 2,435 2,264 2,316 2,020 1,883 7,957 6,219
Semi-soft coking coal production 419 616 331 381 460 1,188 1,173
Bengalla Mine 40%
Thermal coal production 1,618 1,433 1,315 1,070 1,394 4,112 3,779
Mount Thorley Operations (a) 80%
Thermal coal production (b) 494 857 657 280 261 2,045 1,198
Semi-soft coking coal production 253 125 163 137 393 869 693
Warkworth Mine (a) 55.6%
Thermal coal production (b) 1,803 1,686 1,343 1,172 1,663 5,328 4,178
Semi-soft coking coal production 90 130 51 216 133 197 400
Total coal production 7,112 7,110 6,177 5,276 6,186 21,696 17,639
Total sales (c) 7,028 6,450 6,671 5,725 6,218 21,184 18,614
Coal & Allied share
Coal production 5,151 5,248 4,605 3,934 4,422 16,191 12,961
Coal sales ('000 tonnes) 4,997 4,769 4,995 4,320 4,531 15,641 13,847
(a) Production can be sourced from either mining lease and is allocated over
the year based on the tonnage commitment ratio contractually agreed between the
Mount Thorley and Warkworth joint ventures.
(b) Q2 split between Mount Thorley Operations and Warkworth Mine production
has been restated. This has no impact on Q2 total coal production.
(c) Sales relate only to coal mined by the operations and exclude traded
coal.
Production figures are sometimes more precise than the rounded numbers shown,
hence small differences may result between the total of the quarter figures and
the full year figures.
Production
Constraints in the Hunter Valley coal chain continued to limit coal production.
Total coal produced was 14 per cent lower than the corresponding quarter in 2006
and 12 per cent higher than the second quarter of 2007, which was adversely
impacted by severe flooding in June.
Sales
Coal sales in the third quarter were in line with allocated port capacity.
Other
There was no exploration activity during the quarter.
Media Relations, London Media Relations, Australia
Christina Mills Ian Head
Office: +44 (0) 20 8080 1306 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3620
Mobile: +44 (0) 7825 275 605 Mobile: +61 (0) 408 360 101
Nick Cobban Amanda Buckley
Office: +44 (0) 20 8080 1305 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3627
Mobile: +44 (0) 7920 041 003 Mobile: +61 (0) 419 801 349
Investor Relations, London Investor Relations, Australia
Nigel Jones Dave Skinner
Office: +44 (0) 20 7753 2401 Office: +61 (0) 3 9283 3628
Mobile: +44 (0) 7917 227 365 Mobile: +61 (0) 408 335 309
Investor Relations, North America
David Ovington Jason Combes
Office: +44 (0) 20 7753 2326 Office: +1 (0) 801 685 4535
Mobile: +44 (0) 7920 010 978 Mobile: +1 (0) 801 558 2645
Email: questions@riotinto.com
Website: www.riotinto.com
High resolution photographs available at: www.newscast.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange