Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi copper output jumps 27% as Simandou hits a 10 Mtpa run-rate

Rio Tinto said Wednesday that copper output at Oyu Tolgoi rose 27% in the third quarter as the Mongolian mine ran at a roughly 450,000-tonne annualised pace, while its Simandou iron ore project in Guinea reached an early 10 million-tonne-a-year run-rate.

Copper at Oyu Tolgoi, iron ore from Guinea

Rio Tinto said on Wednesday, Oct. 14, that copper production at its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia rose 27% from a year earlier in the third quarter, to 114,000 tonnes of metal in concentrates, as the underground ramp lifted the operation to a roughly 450,000-tonne annualised rate. Year-to-date Oyu Tolgoi output was 312,000 tonnes, up 29%.

That growth helped keep group copper production flat at 205,000 tonnes for the quarter on a consolidated basis, and up 1% to 646,000 tonnes for the first nine months. Full-year copper guidance of 800 to 870,000 tonnes was left unchanged. At Kennecott in Utah, Rio said it finished rebuilding the flash converting furnace at the end of August, ahead of plan.

Simandou hits a 10 Mtpa run-rate

The bigger new signal was in Guinea. Simandou, the high-grade iron ore project Rio is developing with partners, reached an annualised production run-rate of about 10 million tonnes a year (~10 Mtpa) on a 100% basis in the third quarter. Mine-gate fines production was 2.5 million tonnes, 2.2 million tonnes were shipped, and recognised sales were 1.3 million tonnes — a reminder that the mine-to-customer cycle for Simandou ore into China is still long. Rio said the project remains on track for a 60 million-tonne-a-year run-rate in the second half of 2028.

Group iron ore sales rose 3% to 90.8 million tonnes in the quarter and 3% to 255.3 million tonnes year-to-date. Pilbara sales were 85.7 million tonnes, up 2%. Full-year global iron ore sales guidance of 343 to 366 million tonnes and Pilbara sales guidance of 323 to 338 million tonnes were both unchanged. Pilbara production on a 100% basis was 83.4 million tonnes in the quarter, down 1% year on year.

Capital release and costs

Alongside the production print, Rio said it has arranged more than $2 billion of capital release year-to-date toward a $5 billion to $10 billion program flagged at its 2025 capital markets day, and remains on track to announce about $5 billion of initiatives by the end of 2026. Completions and cash proceeds still depend on binding agreements and conditions precedent. Chief executive Simon Trott also said the company is on track for a $1.8 billion annualised productivity benefit run-rate by year-end.

Production and sales guidance was maintained across copper, iron ore, bauxite, alumina, aluminium and lithium. Unit-cost guidance was also held, though Rio flagged that higher diesel prices and a stronger Australian dollar are lifting Pilbara unit cash costs versus the assumptions baked into the $23.50 to $25.00 a tonne FOB range. Lithium carbonate equivalent production rose 33% year-to-date to 40,300 tonnes despite weather that cut the third quarter 11% from the second; full-year lithium guidance of 61 to 64,000 tonnes was unchanged at the lower end.

Trott framed the quarter as operational momentum: copper-equivalent production up about 1% year-to-date, major projects on schedule and budget, and Pacific aluminium smelter repowering arrangements “well progressed” after Tomago and Bell Bay power agreements in the quarter.