Rio Tinto reports 7% rise in second-quarter iron ore sales, beats estimates

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) reported better-than-expected second-quarter iron ore sales on Wednesday, supported by strong system performance, putting it on track to meet its annual forecast.

The world’s largest iron ore producer sold 85.3 million metric tons of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended June 30, ahead of the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 83.6 Mt.

That compared with 79.9 Mt of iron ore sold in the same quarter last year.

Average pricing in the first half at its Pilbara operations improved to $85.2 per wet metric ton on a free on board basis from $83.2 per wmt last year.

Rio said copper production on a consolidated basis fell 7% to 213 Kt in the quarter, lower than the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 214.7 Kt.

Separately, the miner reduced its 2026 copper C1 net unit cost forecast to between 30 and 50 U.S. cents per pound from 65 to 75 U.S. cents a pound due to higher-than-expected gold prices and productivity improvements.

(Reporting by Sneha Kumar and Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)