The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price is sinking today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) mining giant closed yesterday trading for $11.40. In early afternoon trade on Wednesday, shares are changing hands for $109.60 apiece, down 1.6%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.2% at this same time, while the S&P/ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index (ASX: XMM) is down 0.3%.
This follows the release of Rio Tinto's first quarter 2025 production results.
Rio Tinto share price slips on production woes
The Rio Tinto share price is catching some headwinds with management reporting that its full-year Pilbara iron ore shipments are expected to come in at the lower end of guidance due to a series of four cyclones hitting Western Australia in January and February.
Over the three months, Rio Tinto shipped 70.7 million tonnes of iron ore. That's down 9% year on year and down 17% from Q4 2024. The ASX 200 miner produced 69.8 million tonnes of the industrial metal, down 10% year on year.
While production guidance remained unchanged, the Rio Tinto share price could be facing some pressure with management noting, "The system has limited ability to mitigate further losses from weather if incurred".
Management added that, "Pilbara iron ore guidance remains subject to the timing of approvals for planned mining areas and heritage clearances."
And softening the production and shipping losses caused by inclement weather in the early months of the year will come with a hefty $150 million price tag.
According to Rio Tinto:
Mitigation plans are in place to offset around half of this and will require an additional investment of around AU$150 million for rectification works and contracting mining activities. Lower volumes and recovery costs will be offset by a weaker than expected Australian dollar.
It was a better picture for copper, with Rio Tinto producing 210,000 tonnes of the red metal, up 16% year on year.
And the 15.0 million tonnes of bauxite produced over the three months was up 12% from Q1 2024.
What did management say?
Commenting on the results that have yet to lift the Rio Tinto share price, CEO Jakob Stausholm said, "We continued to see strong operational improvement with the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine and our bauxite operations delivering record months for production in March."
Stausholm added:
Production was affected, however, by extreme weather events that impacted our Pilbara iron ore operations.
We are making excellent progress with our major projects to deliver profitable organic growth. We achieved first iron ore at Western Range in the Pilbara and the Simandou high-grade iron ore project in Guinea remains on track.
After successful completion of the Arcadium acquisition in March, we are advancing to establish a world-class lithium business.
With today's intraday loss factored in, the Rio Tinto share price is down 7% in 2025.
