Rio Tinto on track to release $5 billion in capital after Q3 iron ore sales top estimates

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto said on Wednesday it was on track to release about $5 billion in capital by the end of 2026, as strong mine performance helped lift third-quarter Pilbara iron ore sales by 2%.

The world's largest iron ore producer sold 85.7 million metric tons of the steel-making commodity from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended September 30, beating the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 84.41 Mt.

This compares with 84.3 Mt sold last year.

Rio said it had released more than $2 billion in capital this year under a $5 billion to $10 billion programme unveiled at its 2025 Capital Markets Day, aimed at funding higher-return growth opportunities.

Quarterly copper output was broadly flat at 205,000 metric tons, as a 27% rise at Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi mine offset lower production at Chile's Escondida and weaker refined copper output from Kennecott in the United States.

Rio maintained its 2026 Pilbara iron ore sales forecast of 323 million to 338 million tons. It has shipped 243.4 million tons so far this year, leaving it needing 79.6 million tons in the fourth quarter to reach the bottom of the range. The fourth quarter is typically Rio's strongest.

The miner said full-year lithium production was now expected at the lower end of its 61,000-64,000-ton forecast, citing a slower-than-expected ramp-up at its Sal de Vida project in Argentina.

Rio's Simandou project in Guinea sold 1.7 million wet metric tons of iron ore in the first nine months, leaving it needing about 3.3 million tons in the fourth quarter to reach the bottom of its 5 million-10 million-ton full-year forecast.

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee & Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)