Rio Tinto’s alumina production climbs 3% to 4 million tonnes in the first half of 2020

Rio Tinto’s alumina production for the second quarter of 2020 was six per cent higher than the than the same period of 2019. This was due to higher production levels in the Pacific refineries with Yarwun delivering a half year production record.

On a quarter-on-quarter comparison, output registered a decrease of 1 per cent to 1.99 million tonnes.

Rio Tinto Chief Executive J-S Jacques said “Despite various COVID-19 related challenges, all our assets have continued to operate, with our first priority to protect the health and safety of all our employees and communities.

“Our focus is to maintain a business as usual approach with many safeguards at a very unusual time. Our operational teams are continuing to run our assets safely so we can continue to contribute to local and national economies and serve our customers.

“We are executing our value over volume strategy to drive performance, productivity and free cash flow per share. We will remain agile and ready to adapt to the changing operating and macro environment.”

In the first half of 2020, alumina production came in at 4 million tonnes. That was up three per cent from the first half of 2019.