The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price could be on the move today following the release of its fourth quarter update.
How did Rio Tinto perform in the fourth quarter?
During the fourth quarter the mining giant reported Pilbara iron ore shipments of 86.8Mt. This brought its full year shipments to 327.4Mt, which was towards the high end of its 320Mt to 330Mt guidance range. However, it was a touch short of Goldman Sachs' estimate of 87.5Mt for the December quarter.
The miner's bauxite production was strong in the final quarter. This came in at 15.1Mt, up 28% on the prior corresponding period. For the full year, Rio Tinto reported a 9% lift in bauxite production to 55.1Mt. Its quarterly production was higher than Goldman's 14.745Mt forecast.
Aluminium production for the December quarter was 783kt, bringing its full year production to 3,171kt. This was roughly in line with Goldman Sachs' quarterly estimate of 786kt.
As expected, Rio Tinto's mined copper production softened during the final quarter. It came in a 138.7kt, down 12% quarter and quarter. This led to full year mined copper production of 577.4kt, down 5% on FY 2018's production. Whilst it was a soft quarter, it beat Goldman Sachs' quarterly estimate of 135kt.
Finally, full year titanium dioxide slag production came in at 1,206kt and IOC iron ore pellets and concentrate production was 10.5Mt.
Good momentum.
Rio Tinto's chief executive, J-S Jacques, was pleased with the way the company finished the year.
He said: "We finished the year with good momentum, particularly in our Pilbara iron ore operations and in bauxite, despite having experienced some operational challenges in 2019. We are increasing our investment, with $2.25 billion of high-return projects in iron ore and copper approved in the fourth quarter. We also boosted our exploration and evaluation expenditure to $624 million in 2019, further strengthening our pipeline of opportunities."
Looking ahead, the chief executive appears confident that shareholders can look forward to further strong returns.
"We have the platform and performance to maintain our delivery of superior returns to shareholders over the short, medium and long-term, driven by our strong value over volume approach and ongoing disciplined allocation of capital," he added.
FY 2020 guidance.
In FY 2020 Rio Tinto is forecasting production growth for the majority of its operations.
Key guidance highlights include Pilbara iron ore shipments of 330Mt to 343Mt, bauxite production of 55Mt to 58Mt, aluminium production of 7.8Mt to 8.2Mt, and mined copper production of 530kt to 570kt.
