Heady Days of Mining Boom Over as ‘New Normal’ Reigns, Rio Says
A Komatsu Ltd. dump truck carries raw ore from an open pit at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, jointly owned by Rio Tinto Group's Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. unit and state-owned Erdenes Oyu Tolgoi LLC, in Khanbogd, the South Gobi desert, Mongolia.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Rio Tinto Group doesn’t see the good old days of booming commodity prices and record profits coming back anytime soon.
China’s economic slump and expanding mine output mean “challenging” times for the industry, Rio said in its earnings statement on Thursday. While the company has been insulated by lower costs, it reported a 43 percent drop in first-half profit after iron ore prices collapsed because of a global glut.