Rio Tinto told the ASX that its Simandou iron ore project in Guinea reached an annualised production run-rate of about 10 million tonnes in the third quarter, while Oyu Tolgoi copper output kept climbing toward a 450,000-tonne annualised pace.
Chief executive Simon Trott said global iron ore sales rose 3 per cent year-to-date through September, with Pilbara shipments up 2 per cent in the quarter. The update lands as Australian mining equities trade near recent highs despite bond yields above 5 per cent and a Reserve Bank cash rate at 4.60 per cent.
Simandou ramp draws investor focus
Simandou is the growth story inside Rio’s iron ore book. The mine, developed with Chinalco’s CIOH consortium and the Guinean government, began shipping in late 2025. Rio said the project remains on track to hit a 60 million tonne per year run-rate in the second half of 2028.
Third-quarter global iron ore sales reached 90.8 million tonnes, up 3 per cent on the same quarter last year. Pilbara volumes accounted for the bulk of that figure; Simandou’s contribution is still small in absolute terms but rising quickly enough for traders to model new seaborne supply into their 2027 curves.
Copper momentum at Oyu Tolgoi
At Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, copper production increased 27 per cent in the quarter and 29 per cent year-to-date, Rio reported. The underground operation ran at roughly a 450 kilotonne annualised rate during the period, reinforcing Rio’s copper growth narrative as electrification demand tightens concentrate markets.
Rio left full-year guidance unchanged across most commodities, signalling that operational surprises this quarter were positive but not large enough to force a revision. The company also said it had achieved more than US$2 billion of capital release year-to-date under a US$5 billion to US$10 billion program.
Projects and politics in the background
The production statement devoted space to the Resolution copper project in Arizona, jointly owned with BHP. Underground drilling started ahead of schedule in August, Rio said, while a US federal court declined an en banc challenge to a land exchange in September. Native American trust commitments and regulator engagement continue.
For Sydney-session investors, Rio’s update arrived alongside broker fair-value tweaks. Morningstar lifted its Rio estimate by 4 per cent to $130, citing stronger aluminum and copper price assumptions, while BHP’s fair value moved similarly on copper.
ASX trading context
Rio shares have held near record territory even as economists debate whether the RBA will lift the cash rate again on 3 November. September minutes, published on 13 October, showed a unanimous hike to 4.60 per cent and left the door open for further tightening if inflation surprises.
Miners have been a relative haven in that environment because dividend yields and buyback programs compete with term deposits repriced higher. Rio’s third-quarter numbers give fund managers fresh tonnage data to plug into models before the next CPI print on 28 October.
What to watch
Investors will track whether Simandou’s ramp introduces new pricing dynamics in Atlantic iron ore markets, and whether Oyu Tolgoi can sustain its annualised copper rate through the December quarter. Rio’s next formal market update will follow full-year results, but operational filings in Guinea and Mongolia will offer earlier signals if bottlenecks appear.