Iron Ore group

Iron ore

Iron ore is loaded onto carriers at Cape Lambert, one of Rio Tinto Iron Ore's export terminals being expanded in Western Australia.

The Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) group's contribution to 2006 underlying earnings was US$2,279 million, US$557million higher than in 2005. Demand for iron ore remained extremely strong, with China's imports up by 18 per cent on the previous year.

In Western Australia, RTIO wholly owns Hamersley Iron's six mines and also operates the Channar mine (Rio Tinto: 60 per cent) and the Eastern Range mine (Rio Tinto: 54 per cent). RTIO also includes Rio Tinto's effective 53 per cent interest in Robe River Iron Associates' two mines in Western Australia. Following an agreement reached in 2003 with the joint venture partners in Robe River, Pilbara Iron was formed to enable RTIO's iron ore assets in the Pilbara to be run as an optimised and integrated operation.

RTIO operates Iron Ore Company of Canada (Rio Tinto: 59 per cent), acquired in 2000. In 2005, RTIO assumed management of Rio Tinto Brasil, which wholly owns Mineração Corumbaense Reunida, known as Corumbá. In addition, RTIO includes the HIsmelt® direct smelting technology and resources held globally, including the Orissa (India) and Simandou (Guinea) deposits.

In May 2006, RTIO started construction of the US$980 million Hope Downs project in Western Australia, following ratification by the 50:50 Hope Downs Joint Venture and approval from the Western Australian Government.

The commercial HIsmelt® ironmaking plant at Kwinana in Western Australia continued its commissioning phase in 2006, and has produced 98,000 tonnes of pig iron since its start up.