Rio gets steady production from smelter network

Rio Tinto reported steady attributable aluminium production of 216,200t in Q3 2007, compared with 216,500t in Q2 and with 215,200t in the year-earlier period (Q3 2006). Production over the Jan-Sep 2007 period rose to 644,400t from 629,000t in the year-earlier period. The company's four smelters saw only marginal fluctuations in production on a sequential quarter basis. Rio Tinto owns the Bell Bay smelter in Australia and has stakes in the Boyne Island smelter, also in Australia, the Tiwai Point smelter in New Zealand and the Anglesey smelter in the UK.