The Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) share price is falling on Wednesday morning.
At the time of writing, the mining giant's shares are down almost 1% to $109.50.
This follows the release of the company's eagerly anticipated second quarter update before the market open.
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Rio Tinto share price falls on quarterly update
Investors have been selling the miner's shares this morning despite it reporting a reasonably solid performance during the three months ended 30 June.
According to the release, Pilbara iron ore shipments (100% basis) increased 13% quarter on quarter to 79.9Mt. Its production was even stronger, with Pilbara iron ore production increasing 20% on the first quarter to 83.7Mt. Management advised that its mine operations recovered from weather impacts to achieve the highest second quarter production since 2018.
The team at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) was forecasting both shipments and production of 79.8Mt for the three months. This means it has delivered on shipments but comfortably outperformed on production.
Another positive was that Rio Tinto's consolidated copper production increased 9% quarter on quarter to 229kt. This reflects a record quarter from Oyu Tolgoi due to the continued underground ramp-up with improving head grade and recovery rates.
Also growing was its aluminium production (up 2%), bauxite (up 5%), titanium dioxide slag (up 21%), iron ore pellets (up 7%), and boric oxide (up 13%).
The only area of weakness was alumina, which fell 6% quarter on quarter. This lower production was due to operational challenges, in particular with equipment reliability at Yarwun.
Management commentary
Commenting on the company's performance, Rio Tinto's outgoing chief executive, Jakob Stausholm, said:
We delivered excellent operational performance from our mine operations with record production from our bauxite business and from Oyu Tolgoi as it ramps up to become the world's fourth largest copper mine before the end of the decade.
We continue to make strong progress in our production and growth projects, achieving our highest Pilbara Q2 production since 2018 and accelerating the first shipment from the Simandou high-grade iron ore project in Guinea. We will continue to drive progress towards our long-term strategy to deliver profitable growth and build a stronger, more diversified business.
Outlook
All guidance for FY 2025 has been left unchanged. This includes iron ore shipments of 323Mt to 338Mt and copper production of 780kt to 850kt. Though, the latter is now expected to be at the higher end of the range.
The Rio Tinto share price is down 6% over the past 12 months.
