By Stuart Condie 
 

SYDNEY--Rio Tinto PLC maintained its downgraded guidance for refined copper production after a 57% fall in third-quarter output following setbacks at its Kennecott mine in Utah.

The miner on Friday said it produced 129,600 metric tons of mined copper in the three months through September, down 18% from a year earlier. Refined copper production dropped to 24,800 metric tons from 57,100 metric tons in 3Q of fiscal 2019 after delays restarting the Kennecott smelter, the company said in a filing to the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rio Tinto said it still expected to produce between 135,000 and 175,000 metric tons of refined copper in the 12 months through December, in line with August's downgrade from earlier guidance of 165,000-205,000 tons.

The miner maintained its annual iron ore production guidance despite a 1% fall in third-quarter output of the steelmaking ingredient to 86.4 million metric tons.

 

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2020 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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