Rio Tinto says growth back on agenda
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AAP
July 14 2010, 3:54PM
A recovery in diamonds and minerals production reflected improved market fundamentals compared with the difficult conditions of 2009, when operations were idle.
Production at Argyle returned to normal levels following the maintenance shut down at the processing facilities in the second quarter of 2009, while at Diavik, ore processed during the second quarter increased 37 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2009.
Rio says its pre-tax and pre-divestment expenditure on exploration and evaluation in the first half of 2010 was $214 million, compared with $242 million in same period of 2009.
During the first half of 2010, the group realised $67 million (pre-tax) from the divestment of central exploration properties, compared with $73 million in the same period of 2009.
Exploration highlights included the Amargosa bauxite project in Brazil, where an order of magnitude study commenced, and a joint venture exploration for copper and other minerals in Kazakhstan.
Rio Tinto completed $3.6 billion of divestments comprising Alcan Packaging Food Americas, Alcan Packaging Global Pharmaceuticals, Global Tobacco, Food Europe and Food Asia divisions and two undeveloped properties sold by Coal & Allied.
