Rio Tinto posts 11% Y-o-Y decline in bauxite output for 1QCY2023; Weipa & Gove share accountability for the fall

On Wednesday, April 19, Rio Tinto, a leading Anglo-Australian mining group, announced its operational results for the first quarter of 2023, revealing an 11 per cent year-on-year decline and 8 per cent month-on-month drop in bauxite output to 12.1 million tonnes. The downfall took place due to the slowdown in Weipa’s operations caused by higher than average rainfall during the annual wet season. Production was further affected by equipment downtime at both Weipa and Gove.

At Weipa and Gove, bauxite mining volume was 7.49 million tonnes and 2.58 million tonnes, respectively, versus 8.527 million tonnes and 3.093 million tonnes during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Rio Tinto said it maintained bauxite production guidance at 54 to 57 million tonnes to recover lost production at both sites through the remainder of the year.

Bauxite third-party shipments were 7.88 million tonnes in Q1, down by 15 per cent from the previous quarter and 22 per cent from a year ago.

The company also posted a dip in in its alumina output for Q1 2023 to 1.86 million tonnes. That reflected a 4 per cent Q-o-Q fall from 1.94 million tonnes and 2 per cent Y-o-Y drop from 1.901 million tonnes, attributed to unplanned outages at Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) and plant reliability issues at Yarwun in Australia.

Rio’s alumina production at Queensland plunged year-on-year from 704,000 tonnes to 632,000 tonnes in 1Q2023, and that in Yarwun dropped from 745,000 tonnes to 739,000 tonnes.

However, Rio Tinto’s aluminium production reflected an exception posting a 7 per cent year-on-year growth to 0.8 million tonnes during 1Q2023, benefitted from the continued ramp-up of the Kitimat smelter. Operation at the Boyne and Kitimat smelters is progressing towards full ramp-up by the year-end.

Aluminium output at Kitimat smelter improved significantly by 188 per cent year-on-year from 25,000 tonnes to 72,000 tonnes in 1Q2023.

At the Tiwai Point smelter, Alouette, and Tomago, production remained steady at 66,000 tonnes, 62,000 tonnes, and 75,000 tonnes, respectively.

Rio Tinto achieved a small improvement in all-injury frequency rate at 0.32 in Q1 2023 compared to 0.34 in Q1 2022 and 0.45 in Q4 2022.

The company also reported that its share of capital investment for 2023 remains unchanged at around $8 billion, including growth capital of around $2.0 billion.