Rio Tinto is a world leader in finding, mining and processing the earths mineral resources. The Groups worldwide operations supply essential minerals and metals that help to meet global needs and contribute to improvements in living standards. Rio Tinto encourages strong local identities and has a devolved management philosophy, entrusting responsibility with accountability to the workplace. Major products include aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy products (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc and zircon), and iron ore. The Groups activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa. Rio Tinto comprises wholly owned subsidiaries (such as Borax, Comalco, Hamersley, Rio Tinto Coal Australia, Kennecott and Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium), partly owned subsidiaries (Coal & Allied and Palabora) and non-managed, (Escondida) and joint ventures (Grasberg) in which public shareholders, other companies or governments are partners.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/12/2005)

Iron:        29%
Coal:       19%
Copper     18%
Aluminum: 14.5%
Minerals:  12.5%
:              6%
Misc:        1%

RIO
just stalling a bit at 3600 which looks to me like a minor resistance
with that in mind, have banked the profit on a few more, just in case

sure glad i bailed out yesterday

latest today ......

RIO
closing in a messy heap .... currently down 191p = 5.3%
AAL following though to a lesser degree ...... down 38p = 2.9%


not really sure why unless it's a late follow-through from yesterday's report re chinese consumption of steel

Rio went ex-divi on thurs, which may be part of the reason, though seems all miners are being hit at the mo. Possibly just profit taking after a very good run?

how much was the RIO divi?
the stock continues to be hammered and it's down a further 118 as i write

there was a negative report on iron ore prices the other day, which i'll try to find and post here

here you are ...... i posted this on 22nd

RIO and other base metal miners
the following explains the weakness in recent days, and in some ways supports what i have long been saying about chinese gdp

have just sold my RIO trading position for a decent profit, despite today's tumble ..... AAL is looking pretty sick so i'll stay with it



China's surging steel, iron ore inventories at odds with price gains:

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Something is not quite adding up in China's iron and steel markets, with the reasons for the current rally in prices for both commodities jarring uncomfortably with actual data.

Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange on Tuesday hit the highest since the contract was launched in 2013, reaching an intraday peak of 741.5 yuan ($108) a tonne, ending 3.2 percent up on the day, taking the gain since the beginning of 2016 to 258 percent.

The simple explanation is that iron ore is merely tracking gains in steel rebar futures, the main Chinese benchmark traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Steel futures closed on Tuesday at 3,589 yuan a tonne, having earlier reached their highest level since February 2014. Their gain since the start of 2016 stands at a fraction over 100 percent.

The main reasons cited for the rally in steel are strong growth in demand because of Chinese infrastructure spending and fears over supply, given Beijing's plans to cut excess capacity and enforce stricter pollution controls.

While it's fair to say demand for steel has been boosted by increased spending, and that steel capacity has been cut, there is little evidence that this is creating any shortage of the alloy.

Production is still strong, with China's crude steel output reaching 67.2 million tonnes in January, up 7.4 percent from the same month a year earlier, the World Steel Association said on Tuesday. ...

Production for 2016 was 808.4 million tonnes, up 1.2 percent on the prior year, confounding expectations at the start of last year that output would decline as the industry was forced to rationalise capacity.

Some 45 million tonnes of excess capacity was shut in 2016, part of a plan to shutter as much as 150 million tonnes by 2020.

But it's clear that shutting excess capacity has had zero impact on steel mills' ability to increase production.

In fact, it may have the opposite effect, as the capacity that has been closed was older, less efficient and generally loss-making, meaning the mills currently operating are more profitable and thus incentivised to boost output.

Certainly, there appears to be no shortage of steel in China, with rebar inventories rising to 8.397 million tonnes in the week to Feb. 17, the highest for almost two years and more than double the recent low of 3.508 million recorded on Nov. 18 last year.

It's much the same story with iron ore, with inventories surging to 127.5 million tonnes in the week ended Feb. 17, the most since at least 2004, according to data compiler SteelHome.

Inventories To Prompt Correction?
What has happened in recent months is that China's output of steel, and its imports of iron ore, have been robust on the back of the rise in steel prices.

Steel production has been incentivised by the solid profits being made by steel mills, and this has led to strong gains in iron ore imports, with January's 92 million tonnes being the second highest on record.

The question is how long can the current situation be sustained?

It certainly doesn't seem logical that prices can continue to rally when inventories are reaching uncomfortably high levels.

At some point the volume of steel and iron ore sitting at Chinese ports and warehouses will overwhelm even the most optimistic traders, but picking that point is far from an exact science.

In the past, peaks in inventory cycles have been matched by falling prices, but the last five years are tricky given the market was also suffering from persistent oversupply in iron ore and steel, whereas now it's more fundamentally balanced.

Certainly, Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of BHP Billiton , is cautious on iron ore, telling reporters on Tuesday that the world's No.3 producer of the steelmaking ingredient sees risks to the downside in the short term from moderating Chinese steel demand growth, high port inventories and incremental low cost supply. ...

So far, the paper markets for iron ore and steel have been happy to forego a cautious approach to the outlook in 2017, but optimism in the face of contradictory data may well lead to a sharp reality check.

Divi was 100.56p

cripes .... even so, sp has dropped 200+ even taking that out

Liberum Capital today reaffirms its sell investment rating on Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) and set its price target at 2450p.

Macquarie today (28/03/17) reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) and set its price target at 4200p.

Liberum Capital today (20/04/17) reaffirms its sell investment rating on Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) and set its price target at 2400p.

JP Morgan Cazenove today (02/05/17) reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) and cut its price target to 4150p (from 4200p).

Rio Tinto announces cash generation of $6.3 billion and cash returns to shareholders of $3.0 billion

Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said "Today we have announced total cash returns to shareholders of $3 billion. By driving performance, focusing on cash and allocating it with discipline we are delivering superior cash returns to our shareholders.

"These are strong results: operating cash flow was $6.3 billion and we met our $2 billion cash cost reduction target six months early. We are now shifting gear to focus on the untapped value from our productivity programme and continue to strengthen our portfolio to build higher returns for the future. We announced the sale of our thermal coal business in Australia for $2.7 billion and are making good progress on our compelling growth projects - Oyu Tolgoi, Amrun and Silvergrass."

First half 2017 highlights
- Generated operating cash flow of $6.3 billion, EBITDA1 of $9.0 billion and EBITDA margin2 of 45 per cent.
- Delivered underlying earnings of $3.9 billion and net earnings of $3.3 billion.
- Achieved $2.1 billion of pre-tax sustainable operating cash cost improvements3 in 2016 and 2017 first half, meeting the target six months ahead of schedule.
- Strengthening the portfolio with all three growth projects on track and a $2.7 billion disposal announced in 2017 first half.
- Reduced net debt by $2.0 billion to $7.6 billion, with gross debt4 lowered by $2.5 billion.
- Returning cash to shareholders of $3.0 billion with respect to 2017 first half:
§ Declared interim dividend of 110 US cents per share, equivalent to $2.0 billion.
§ An increased share buy-back of $1.0 billion in Rio Tinto plc shares by the end of 2017.
§ In total represents 75 per cent of 2017 first half underlying earnings.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5611278

Rio Tinto was slapped with a £27.4m fine by the City watchdog for failings in its financial reporting process relating to the $3.7bn purchase of mining assets in Mozambique, an issue that US regulators have now begun to investigate. The Financial Conduct Authority said Rio Tinto misled investors by failing to carry out an impairment test that would have resulted in a material impairment being made to its 2012 half year results, which it did not remedy until in January 2013 when it wrote off roughly 80% of the value of the investment.