Rio Tinto says its Pilbara iron ore production was down one per cent in the third quarter, compared to a year ago, but shipments were up one per cent.
The mining giant on Tuesday reaffirmed its guidance for hitting the upper half of its original 2023 forecast of 320 million to 335 million tonnes of Pilbara iron ore shipped in 2023.
There had been 245.5 million tonnes shipped through the end of September.
"We delivered another quarter of progress and maintained momentum at our Pilbara iron ore operations," Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said.
Guidance was also unchanged for the other minerals that Rio TInto mines, except for its Canadian iron ore pellets and concentrate, which was reduced by around 10 per cent, or about a million tonnes.
Operations there have been impacted by extended plant downtime and conveyor belt failures, and are still still impacted by the Northern Quebec wildfires from the previous quarter.
Iron ore prices rose seven per cent during the quarter to an average of $US114 per dry tonne.
Rio Tinto said that China's domestic steel demand is up one per cent year-to-date through August, despite weakness in residential property.
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