Rio Tinto today released its production figures for the three months ending June 30, 2019, reporting a 3% decline in diamonds produced during the quarter and a 10% drop over the first half of the year. The figures were along expected lines as the company’s Argyle mine in Australia has entered the final few years of its life.

Giving details, the miner said that 4.48 million carats were produced during Q2 2019, dropping 3% below the 4.63 mn cts produced during the same period a year earlier. For the first half of the year, diamond production stood at 8.28 mn cts or 10% below the H1 2018 level of 9.24 mn cts.

At Argyle, carat production in the second quarter of 2019 stood at 3.29 mn cts or 5% lower than the 3.48 mn cts recovered in the same period in 2018. Rio Tinto said this was due to lower recovered grade, partially offset by stronger mining rates. Over the first six months of 2019, production at Argyle touched 6.08 mn cts (H1 2018: 7.03 mn cts).

At Diavik, Rio Tinto’s share of carats recovered in the second quarter at 1.19 mn cts was 3% higher than the 1.15 mn cts recovered in the second quarter of 2018 due to slightly higher grades and ore processing throughput. For the first six months of 2019, 2.20 mn cts were recovered at Diavik, marginally below the 2.21 mn cts recovered in the same period in 2018.

The Company said that diamond production guidance for 2019 remains between 15 and 17 million carats.

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