Our products
Rio Tinto Iron Ore products include blast furnace lump and sinter plant fines, direct reduction lump, iron ore pellets, iron concentrates and pig iron products.
Iron ore products from the Pilbara
Rio Tinto Iron Ore produces five products from our Pilbara operations:
- Pilbara Blend Lump (PB-L)
- Pilbara Blend Fines (PB-F)
- Hamersley Iron Yandicoogina Fines (HIY-F)
- Robe Valley Lump
- Robe Valley Fines
Products for the Pilbara are intended for use in integrated steelworks as sinter plant feed or direct blast furnace feed.
Pilbara Blend products
Pilbara Blend lump and fines are blended products that contain ore from Rio Tinto Iron Ore mines across the Pilbara. These products contain both Brockman and Marra Mamba ores in proportion to RTIO's long term resource base in the region. Pilbara Blend products do not include ore from Yandicoogina or Robe Valley operations.
Pilbara Blend products include contributions from mines at Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Channar, Eastern Ranges, Marandoo, West Angelas, Brockman2 and Nammuldi and Hope Downs 1.
Pilbara Blend products have stable absolute product quality and low product quality variability.
Pilbara Blend Lump (PB-L) contains particles smaller than 31.5mm in size and greater than 6.3mm It is used directly in the blast furnaces at integrated steel works.
Pilbara Blend Fines (PB-F) contain particles nominally less than 6.3mm in size and is primarily used as a sinter plant feed.
Pilbara Blend products are only available from the Dampier shipping terminals.
Hamersley Iron Yandicoogina Fines
Hamersley Iron Yandicoogina Fines (HIY-F) is produced at Rio Tinto Iron Ore's Yandicoogina operation.
The HIY-F product has excellent handling characterisic and low alumina content compared to most Australian iron ores.
HIY-F is shipped mostly through Cape Lambert, but is currently available in limited amounts from Dampier.
Robe Valley products
Ore mined in the Pannawonica area is railed to Cape Lambert where it is processed to make the Robe Valley products. At present, ore comes from Mesa J deposit.
A lump and a fines product are produced.
Robe Valley Lump contains particles nominally less than 40 mm and greater than 6.3 mm. It is used directly in blast furnaces at integrated steel works.
Robe Valley Fines contain particles nominally less than 9.5 mm and is used primarily as a sinter plant feed.
Robe Valley products have low levels of phosphorus, optimal silica: alumina ratio and low product quality variability.
Robe Valley products are only shipped from Cape Lambert.
Iron ore pellets and concentrates from Canada
The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) is a leading supplier of iron ore pellets and concentrates. IOC produces a suite of products suitable for use in Direct Reduction and Blast Furnace processes that meet the various needs of customers.
Product quality specifications are available from the regional sales offices.
Pig iron from HIsmelt®
The HIsmelt Kwinana Joint Venture Facility in Kwinana, Western Australia, was developed by Rio Tinto to treat iron ore fines with minimal raw material preparation using non-coking coals. The process is flexible; it can use many iron ore products including high phosphorus ores, while producing a premium quality hot metal, free of slag, which can be used as direct charge to steelmaking processes or cast as pig iron (96 per cent iron content).
The pig iron produced at HIsmelt is cast into 4.5kg "pigs". Marketed as HIron™ - the product is one of the highest quality basic pig iron products available on the market. It can be used in Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) and Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) steel making, as well as many foundry applications.
Quality management
Rio Tinto Iron Ore operations use process control techniques to ensure that all products meet stringent metallurgical, chemical and physical quality standards. Product quality is monitored throughout the production process. Rio Tinto Iron Ore laboratories at each site are accredited by relevant national testing authorities. The comprehensive system of quality controls built into the production process ensures that Rio Tinto Iron Ore's products meet customers' quality requirements.
Our production process and quality-monitoring operations comply with ISO 9002.
