Rio Tinto holds copper guidance as iron ore sales rise

Rio Tinto kept its full-year copper guidance unchanged at 800,000 to 870,000 tonnes after third-quarter production of 205,000 tonnes, while global iron ore sales rose 3 percent year on year to 90.8 million tonnes.

Why it matters: The steady guidance from one of the world's largest miners signals that copper supply growth is coming mainly from Oyu Tolgoi's ramp in Mongolia, while Simandou's slow build in Guinea starts to add iron ore tonnes.

Data as of Tuesday, October 13, 2026, evening. Rio Tinto third-quarter production release opened in full via Business Wire; Bloomberg carried the same headline figures in the feed. Developing item, 2 to 3 sentences by design.

Rio Tinto produced 205,000 tonnes of copper in the third quarter, flat against a year earlier and 4 percent below the second quarter, and left its 2026 guidance unchanged at 800,000 to 870,000 tonnes, with Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia running at an annualised rate of about 450,000 tonnes and output there up 27 percent year on year in the quarter. Global iron ore sales rose 3 percent to 90.8 million tonnes, Pilbara sales rose 2 percent to 85.7 million tonnes, and the Simandou mine in Guinea reached an annualised run rate of about 10 million tonnes as it ramps toward 60 million tonnes in the second half of 2028.

The company said it has achieved more than $2 billion of capital releases so far this year, against a plan to announce about $5 billion by the end of 2026, and that its major projects remain on schedule and budget.

Rio Tinto holds copper guidance as iron ore sales rise

Sources