LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Rio Tinto on Tuesday announced a joint investment of $1.61bn with Hancock Prospecting to develop the Hope Downs 2 iron ore project in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
The mine is expected to produce 31 million tonnes of ore a year.

Hope Downs 2 will include two new pits and be incorporated into existing infrastructure, Rio said in a statement. All regulatory and environmental approvals were in place and the first ore was scheduled to be mined in 2027, it added.

"These projects are part of our strategy to continue investing in Australian iron ore and to sustain Pilbara production for decades to come," said Rio Tinto's iron ore chief executive Simon Trott.

The mine is part of Rio's tranche of new projects aimed at ensuring continued supply from the Pilbara. During the next three years, Rio Tinto expects to invest more than $13bn on new mines, plant and equipment.

It said it had a "clear pathway" to achieve and sustain mid-term system capacity of 345 - 360 million tonnes a year from its Pilbara iron ore business, with a pre-feasibility study also underway on the Rhodes Ridge project, the region's best undeveloped iron ore deposit.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com

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