Rio Tinto opens 16th mine in Pilbar

Rio Tinto, the world's second largest iron ore producer, officially opened its 16th mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia on Wednesday.

The Silvergrass mine is expected to come on stream within the last quarter and is slated to develop $ 338 million to produce 10 million tonnes of sweet ore per year.

Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastian Jacques said Silvergrass is “an excellent example of our approach to increasing production,” as the mine will provide a low-cost, high-quality material to maintain its signature Pilbara Blend.

Silvergrass is located adjacent to the Rio Nammuldi mine and the ore will be transferred to the Namuldi plant via a 9 km conveyor system currently under construction.

The initial phase with a capacity of five million tons per year began production in the fourth quarter of 2015. The final capacity could be over 20 million tonnes per year, but most of Silvergrass's production will replace depleting resources elsewhere.