Tranzactioneaza Rio Tinto Plc (UK.RIO) - 50.2 GBP (%) Tranzactioneaza

Rio Tinto warns of earnings hit from COVID absences, inflation

Rio Tinto on Friday warned that COVID 19-related labour shortages in the resource-rich state of Western Australia and rising inflation would impact its underlying earnings in the second half, knocking its stock lower.&nbsp

The global miner reported misses across the board in its second-quarter update on output, but it maintained guidance on its full-year iron ore shipments at 320-335 million tonnes (Mt) as it expects its newly opened Gudai-Darri mine in the Pilbara region to continue to raise production and reach full capacity by 2023.

Rio Tinto (UK.RIO) (US.RIO) reported Q2 iron ore shipments of 79.9Mt, up 5% over the prior corresponding period and 12% Q/Q.&nbsp

The mining giant, reported a 4% Q/Q increase in bauxite production to 14.1Mt, a 1% lift in mined copper production to 126kt, and a 1% decline in aluminium production to 731kt.&nbsp

1H iron shipments was 151.4Mt, which is down 2% over the prior corresponding period, driven by skilled labour supply constraints, COVID-19 disruptions, first quarter delays of mine replacement projects, and significantly higher than average rainfall in May.&nbsp

Rio Tinto has reaffirmed the majority of its guidance for FY 2022: Full year iron ore shipments guidance remains unchanged at at 320Mt to 335Mt.

newsrio tinto second quarter iron ore shipments rise about 5 07 142022