Rio Tinto reported a 7% year-on-year increase in Pilbara iron ore shipments for the third quarter, driven by a record 22 million tonnes of output from its Gudai-Darri mine. Enhanced operational efficiency across nine processing hubs lifted average plant availability to 92%, up from 88% in Q3 last year. Management noted that lower strip ratios and the debut of new autonomous haul trucks reduced unit operating costs by 4%, positioning the company to generate stronger free cash flow in the second half of the fiscal year.

The company entered a strategic two-year collaboration with Amazon Web Services to optimize its Nuton bioleaching process at the Johnson Camp copper mine in Arizona. Leveraging AWS cloud-based analytics, Rio Tinto aims to produce 30,000 tonnes of 99.99% pure copper over four years, eliminating traditional smelter and refinery steps. By modeling heap-leach performance and fine-tuning acid and water usage, the partnership is expected to improve copper recovery rates by up to 15% and reduce water consumption by 20%, underscoring Rio Tinto’s progress toward a lower-carbon copper business.

Rio Tinto and BHP Group signed two non-binding memoranda of understanding to jointly develop the Wunbye deposit and process ore from BHP’s adjacent Yandi Lower Channel deposit through Rio Tinto’s existing infrastructure. The agreement targets up to 200 million tonnes of additional iron ore production with minimal incremental capital expenditure, leveraging shared rail, port and rail systems. First shipments are slated for early next decade, potentially extending the life of Pilbara operations by five years and enhancing asset utilization across both companies’ Western Australia portfolios.