OREANDA-NEWS. Included in Rio Tinto’s annual Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves update, released to the market today as part of its 2015 Annual Report, are increases in Rio Tinto Coal Australia’s Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia.

The updated Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources are reported in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, 2012 (JORC Code) and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Listing Rules. As such, the reported increases relating to six Rio Tinto Coal Australia sites require the additional supporting information set out in this release and its appendices.

A full update of Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources is provided in the 2015 Annual Report.

Total coal Ore Reserves for all deposits have increased by 397 million tonnes (Mt), from 2,106 Mt to 2,504 Mt. Increases in Ore Reserves include:

  • Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) Ore Reserves increased by 309 Mt, from 581 Mt to 890 Mt.
  • Hail Creek Ore Reserves increased by 127 Mt, from 126 Mt to 253 Mt.

Total Mineral Resources exclusive of Ore Reserves have increased by 1,376 Mt, from 5,429 Mt to 6,805 Mt. These increases to Mineral Resources include:

  • HVO Mineral Resources increased by 458 Mt, from 1,373 Mt to 1,831 Mt.
  • Warkworth Mineral Resources increased by 138 Mt, from 475 Mt to 613 Mt.
  • Hail Creek Mineral Resources increased by 419 Mt, from 172 Mt to 591 Mt.
  • Kestrel and Kestrel West Mineral Resources increased by 164 Mt, from 142 Mt to 306 Mt.
  • Winchester South Mineral Resources increased by 164 Mt, from 192 Mt to 356 Mt.

Mt Robert contains a maiden Mineral Resource estimate of 31 Mt.

The upgrades have resulted from a programme of orebody knowledge and strategic mine planning optimisation undertaken at Rio Tinto Coal Australia. They are based on a rigorous examination of all Rio Tinto Coal Australia leases that included:

  • Consolidating and analysing a large volume of new and legacy geology data sets for all sites.
  • Reinterpreting and standardising all of the New South Wales and Queensland geology models, employing an expanded range of available data sets.
  • Updating the strategic mine planning processes and tools used to estimate Ore Reserves.
  • Adopting more efficient Mineral Resource estimation methods.
These increases in Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources reflect a continuation of the work announced in 2014.

All Minerals Resources and Ore Reserves are quoted on a 100% basis. Rio Tinto’s interest as at 31 December 2015 is listed in the tables on pages 2 and 3. On 30 September 2015 Rio Tinto announced a restructure of Coal & Allied which included changes in Rio Tinto’s interests in Hunter Valley Operations and Warkworth. The restructure completed on 3 February 2016.