Rio Tinto Output Falls Amid Bereavement Pause

Production at Rio Tinto’s Diavik mine in Canada slid in the first quarter after the miner halted production to allow workers to grieve for colleagues who died in a plane crash.

Output fell 22% year on year to 740,000 carats for the three months that ended March 31, Rio Tinto said Tuesday. However, production was 12% higher than the previous quarter, during which the miner closed two kimberlite pipes and produced lower-grade ore.

The company processed 343,000 tonnes of ore during the quarter, a 20% drop from the same period the year before and 12% down from the previous quarter.

In January, a plane carrying remote employees to Diavik crashed, killing a number of people on board. Rio Tinto stopped recovering diamonds for an unspecified time following that tragedy, it explained.

“We have been deeply affected by the loss of four Diavik colleagues and two airline crew members in a plane crash,” said Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm.

“Our share of carats was 22% lower than the first quarter of 2023 due to a production pause to grieve and honor lost colleagues,” the company added.

Improvements in the retrieval of ore from two pipes in the underground area of the mine mitigated the drop in output, Rio Tinto noted.

The company has not provided full-year production guidance for Diavik. In 2023, output came to 3.3 million carats.

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Main image: The Diavik diamond mine. (Rio Tinto)