Rio Tinto's thermal coal production slumped in the July-September quarter following the sale of its Coal & Allied business, the miner said Tuesday, while lowering its output guidance for the year.
The company's share of production from its thermal coal mines stood at 3.79 million mt in the quarter, down 13% year on year and 23% from the April-June period, it said.
Rio completed the sale of its Hunter Valley thermal coal business Coal & Allied to Yancoal Australia for $2.69 billion on September 1.
As a result, Rio revised its 2017 thermal coal production guidance to 13 million-14 million mt, down from 17 million-18 million mt, it said.
Coal & Allied had interests in the Hunter Valley Operations, Mount Thorley and Warkworth mines. Rio still produces some thermal coal from its Hail Creek and Kestrel mines in Queensland.
The miner's share of thermal coal production from Hail Creek was 851,000 mt in the September quarter, up from 787,000 mt a year earlier but down from 881,000 mt in the June quarter, data from its quarterly report showed Tuesday.
From the Kestrel mine, it produced 226,000 mt of thermal coal, up from 225,000 mt a year earlier and 141,000 mt in the June quarter, it said.
