Rio Tinto Eyes 220 million tonnes of Australian Iron Ore Shipping Capacity

World second largest iron ore supplier, Rio Tinto prepares for the additional expansion of Western Australian iron ore shipment capacity to annual 220 million tonnes after 2008. The firm will decide the 20 million tonnes of expansion plan as early as in the year when the firm is expanding the operations to 200 million tonnes in late 2007. The firm tries to take chance for the growth including potential new operation in Africa and India with expectation iron ore demand keeps strong. Mr. Sam M. C. Walsh, who is chief executive of Rio Tinto Iron Ore said on Thursday to Japan Metal Bulletin that he will seek approval of the new plan to expand the annual shipping capacity of Cape Lambert, which is iron ore shipping port with annual 56 million tonnes of capacity. Mr. Walsh expects the tight iron ore supply could continue a couple of years depending on the supply expansion to catch up demand growth mainly in China. The firm tries to expand the supply capacity gradually to meet the demand. Rio Tinto has annual 172 million tonnes of iron ore shipping capacity in Western Australia through the subsidiaries. The operations shipped 143 million tonnes in 2005. Rio Tinto has operations in Canada with 15 million tonnes of annual sales and in Brazil with 1.3 million tonnes of sales. The firm is under pre feasibility in Guinea and in early stage of exploration in India.