It's far too early to suggest that the appointment of Sam Walsh to the top job at Rio Tinto (RIO) has had a galvanising effect on the mining giant's operational performance, but the group's third-quarter update suggests that it's certainly moving in the right direction.
After a first half that was dogged by legacy issues, Rio is now confident that it will achieve its full-year iron ore production target of 265m tonnes, after comparable third-quarter output ticked up by 2 per cent to 68.3m tonnes. And Rio's continued investment in port infrastructure is paying off, judging by a 4 per cent rise in ferrous shipments over the period.
Iron ore accounts for the lion's share of group revenues, but productivity improvements in Rio's Australian operations also resulted in record quarterly thermal coal production. Rio upped its forecast refined copper output for 2013 to around 270,000 tonnes after a quick turnaround at US Kennecott mine following a landslide. Copper output was also buoyed by a ramp-up in production at the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia, but the group remains in discussions with local authorities over the proposed $5bn (£3.1bn) underground expansion at the site.
