Rio Tinto's second-quarter iron ore sales rise 7%

July 15 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto RIO.AX, RIO.L reported a 7% rise in second-quarter iron ore sales on Wednesday, supported by strong system performance and healthy stock levels.

The world's largest iron ore producer sold 85.3 million metric tonnes of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended June 30, up from 79.9 Mt sold last year.

That beat a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 83.6 Mt.