PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Costs at diversified miner Rio Tinto’s newly minted Gudai-Darri mine, in the Pilbara, has increased by $500-million over the last 12 months.
The miner in June of last year placed capital costs for the project at $2.6-billion, but on marking the first production of iron-ore from Gudai-Darri this week, Rio said that the capital cost of the project had reached $3.1-billion.
“As disclosed in February, the company’s replacement projects in the Pilbara, including Gudai-Darri, were subject to potential capital increases of approximately 15% due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, including labour access and supply chain quality issues. Group capital expenditure guidance for 2022 is unchanged at around $8-billion,” the miner said in a statement.
Gudai-Darri is fully owned by Rio and is located approximately 35 km north-west of Rio’s Yandicoogina mine site, and about 110 km from the town of Newman in the Pilbara region.
At full production, the mine will have an annual capacity of 43-million tonnes, underpinning production of the Pilbara Blend, Rio’s flagship iron-ore product.