Mining major Rio Tinto on Wednesday said that it was experiencing operational challenges at its iron-ore mines, particularly in the Greater Brockman hub in the Pilbara, resulting in another revision of its guidance for the year.
The miner lowered its Pilbara shipment guidance to between 320-million tonnes and 330-million tonnes for 2019, down from the previously announced guidance of between 333-million tonnes and 343-million tonnes.
This is the second guidance downgrade for this year, following the April announcement that its Pilbara operations were experiencing several challenges. Its initial guidance for 2019 was to ship between 338-million and 350-million tonnes of iron-ore.
Given the change in volume guidance, unit costs were expected to be updated in the second quarter operations review, which would be published next month, Rio Tinto said.
The mine’s operational challenges were further resulting in a higher proportion of certain lower grade products, partly to protect the quality of the company’s flagship Pilbara Blend.