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Rio Tinto's 3Q Diamond Production +12%
Oct 15, 2013 2:40 AM
By Deena Taylor
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RAPAPORT... Rio Tinto’s diamond production rose 12 percent year on year to 4.158 million carats for the third quarter that ended on September 30. Growth was driven by an increase in the amount of ore processed and higher grades at its fully owned Argyle mine in Western Australia, following full commissioning of the underground mine in April 2013.
Production at Argyle rose 26 percent to 3.085 million carats during the quarter with the amount of ore processed up 20 percent to 2.088 million tonnes. Rio Tinto’s production at the Canada-based Diavik mine, in which it owns a 60 percent stake, fell 13 percent to 1.003 million carats due to lower grades of ore being mined during the quarter.
Rio Tinto also owns 78 percent of the Murowa mine in Zimbabwe where its share of production declined 24 percent to 70,000 carats.
During the first nine month of the year, Rio Tinto’s total diamond production rose 17 percent to 11.529 million carats. Production at Argyle rose 27 percent to 8.205 million carats, while production at Diavik dropped 3 percent to 3.106 million carats. The company's share of production at Murowa rose 1 percent to 217,000 carats.
Rio Tinto expects to mine 15.7 million carats of diamonds in 2013 compared with 13.122 million carats recovered in 2012.
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Tags:
Argyle, Deena Taylor, diamond, diamonds, Diavik, Murowa, Rio Tinto
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