{"id":55961,"date":"2026-06-04T10:04:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/55961\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T10:04:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:04:59","slug":"rio-tinto-releases-q1-2026-production-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/55961\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio Tinto releases Q1 2026 production results"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.riotinto.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Rio Tinto<\/a> reported a 1% year-on-year increase in aluminium production for the first quarter of 2026, reaching 835,000 tonnes. <\/p>\n<p>While alumina production rose by 6%, bauxite output fell by 11% due to weather disruptions at Weipa and Gove (Australia), including the impact of Cyclone Narelle.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these impacts, production guidance remains unchanged.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding market conditions, Rio Tinto said the Middle East conflict has removed considerable ex-China aluminium supply. <\/p>\n<p>With smelter curtailments in the region, which accounts for 23% of ex-China production, there are expectations of an enhanced global deficit in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Logistics and bauxite supply disruptions, specifically involving the Strait of Hormuz and war risk insurance, lifted seaborne freight costs and China bauxite CIF prices toward the end of the quarter. <\/p>\n<p>Consequently, LME aluminium prices reached nearly four-year highs in March, while the US Midwest duty-paid premium hit a record $2,523\/t. <\/p>\n<p>Australian FOB alumina price remained subdued due to weaker Middle East alumina demand and higher output in Indonesia and China.<\/p>\n<p>In operational developments, Rio Tinto reported strong performance in alumina as Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) is now 100% owned.<\/p>\n<p>In the aluminium sector, the Kitimat smelter in Canada continued its ramp-up following improved power supply, and New Zealand&#8217;s Aluminium Smelter (NZAS) maintained high production rates.<\/p>\n<p>Operational transitions at the Arvida smelter in Qu\u00e9bec, Canada, progressed in March with the closure of one potline as part of a planned phase-out. <\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the new AP60 expansion achieved first hot metal and began commissioning.<\/p>\n<p>The investment includes up to $113 million of financial support from the Quebec government. <\/p>\n<p>While the project is expected to be fully ramped up by year-end, gross costs have risen from approximately $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion, due to challenges in construction productivity.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Rio Tinto secured a A$2 billion joint funding package from the Australian and Queensland Governments to extend operations at Boyne Smelters (BSL) until at least 2040.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the company is progressing with its Arctial project to study a low-carbon greenfield opportunity in Finland, using its AP60 technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rio Tinto reported a 1% year-on-year increase in aluminium production for the first quarter of 2026, reaching 835,000&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20718],"tags":[25943,25946,25944,25947,25945,2095,645,3755,25948,12991,721,4006],"class_list":["post-55961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rio-tinto","tag-ait","tag-aluminium-magazine","tag-aluminium-publication","tag-aluminum-magazine","tag-aluminum-publication","tag-carbon","tag-international","tag-metal","tag-non-ferrous","tag-rio-tinto","tag-sustainability","tag-today"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116691279910922078","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}