PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Major Rio Tinto has increased the resource estimate for its Pilbara iron-ore operations, following a 700 000 m drilling programme in 2018.
The miner on Thursday reported a new mineral resource estimate of 23.31-billion tonnes at its Pilbara assets, compared with the previous resource estimate of 22.5-billion tonnes, in 2017.
The resource increase included a maiden mineral resource for the Music Hall and Old Vic deposits, which has added to the Hamersley iron-ore project, as well as an update to the Western Hill deposit, which forms part of the Robe River joint venture.
Rio is expecting iron-ore production in 2019 to reach between 338-million and 350-million tonnes.