Rio Tinto Reports 37-percent Fall in Diamond Output for Q4

Rapaport reported that during 2014′s fourth quarter, Rio Tinto plc’s (ASX:RIO,LSE:RIO,NYSE:RIO) rough diamond production sank 37 percent from the previous year. Output came to 2.841 million carats.

As quoted in the market news:

The company attributed the sharp reduction in output to a maintenance shutdown and the transition from open pit to underground mining at its Argyle mine in Australia, and a shift toward processing lower-grade ore at its Diavik mine in Canada.

Production at Argyle fell 43 percent to 1.813 million carats during the quarter. Rio Tinto’s 60 percent stake in Diavik’s production fell 25 percent to 927,000 carats after improved processing rates at the mine’s treatment plant fully exhausted its stockpile of higher-grade ore in the previous quarter. The company’s 78 percent share of output at the much smaller Murowa mine in Zimbabwe fell 4 percent to 101,000 carats.

Click here to read the full Rapaport report.