LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto said it expected 2022 iron ore shipments to be slightly weaker than forecast due to tight labour market conditions and production delays from its new greenfields mine at Gudai-Darri project.
Rio on Tuesday said it expected to ship 320m - 335m tonnes (Mt) in 2022 from Western Australia's Pilbara region, below analysts estimates of up to 340 Mt. Iron ore shipments fell 3% to 321.6 Mt last year.

Pilbara shipments were also hit by labour shortages in Western Australia as the state shut its border during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company warned of potential disruption from surging Covid cases and geopolitical tensions, but added that it was "encouraged" by growth prospects in the current year.

"Guidance assumes development of the pandemic does not lead to government-imposed restrictions and widespread protracted cases ... which could result in a significant number of our production critical workforce and contractor base being unable to work," it said.

"This risk is exacerbated globally by tight labour markets and supply chain delays."

Rio also pushed back its timeline by a year to 2027 for first saleable production at its $2.4bn Serbia lithium project, as major approvals faced delays due to protests over environmental concerns.

The lithium-borates project near Loznica in the western Jadar valley could is key to the miner's plans to become Europe's largest supplier of the essential component of electric car batteries.

The mine has faced opposition from environmental activists and local communities over concerns of environmental damage, forcing the local municipality last year to scrap a plan to allocate land for the facility.

"We fully understand the concerns amongst some Serbian stakeholders about environmental impacts and we will continue to engage to demonstrate the project has developed mitigation solutions in the project plan," Rio said in a statement.

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