MINING giant Rio Tinto saw shipments of iron ore from its Pilbara mines decrease 1% in 2024 compared to 2023.

The results come as reports of merger talks between Rio Tinto and fellow commodity giant Glencore have surfaced this week. Should any deal be completed, it would rank as the largest ever in the mining industry, Bloomberg reported.

In its fourth-quarter production results, the Anglo-Australian company reported 85.7m tonnes of iron ore shipments in 4Q24, down 1% on 4Q23. It shipped 328.6m tonnes in 2024, 1% down on 2023 as a whole.

Rio Tinto cited “mixed signals” from the Chinese economy in the fourth quarter as a potential reason for the decrease in shipments, despite the world’s biggest consumer breaking its own import record for iron ore in 2024.

The country’s struggling real estate market was again highlighted by the miner, though it did point out that November house price data it had seen pointed to a potential stabilisation of the market.

As has been the story for most of 2024, low iron ore prices have prompted Chinese traders to boost inventories. Rio Tinto confirmed that while Chinese port inventories at 47 major ports had decreased slightly in the fourth quarter to 156m tonnes, that figure is still 31m tonnes higher than the beginning of 2024.

The paradox of low domestic demand, but record imports has persisted for most of 2024, but the “mixed signals” Rio Tinto mentioned are reflected in the capesize market, which suffered a disappointing end to 2024 and a sluggish start to 2025.

Rio Tinto’s other commodities fared better than its iron ore shipments. Bauxite production was up 7% on 2023 last year, hitting 15.4m tonnes, while its mined copper production increased 13% to 202,000 tonnes.

Its SimFer mine, located in the Simandou project in Guinea, is slated to deliver its first production later this year.

The mine will ramp up production over the next two and a half years to an annual capacity of 60m tonnes, 27m of which would be Rio Tinto’s share.