SYDNEY, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Australian mining giant Rio Tinto posted quarterly production results Thursday, failing to meet market expectations after bad weather affected operations.
Rio's mining operations were affected in Western Australia, and Queensland by ex-Cyclone Debbie, but still managed to perform to their own projected iron ore guidance, with shipments remaining on par with their first quarter totals last year.
The chief executive of the mining giant, Jean-Sebastien Jacques said in a statement obtained on Thursday, that the company remains in good stead moving forward.
"Despite challenging weather conditions at our West Australian and Queensland operations, we delivered solid production in the first quarter of 2017," Jacques said.
The main iron ore operation at Pilbara produced 77.2 million metric tonnes for the quarter, down 3 percent from last year's totals, but the company still projects their year long results to fall within their stipulated guidance of 330 to 340 million metric tons in 2017.
At 11:22 local time AEST, Rio Tinto was up 1.02 percent, to trade at 59.50 dollars (44.65 U.S. dollars) per share.
