for those that missed it today here it is, page-58

Not all bad news.....Bauxite production surged 93% in the quarter
10/15/2008 4:26 AM ET

(RTTNews) - Miner Rio Tinto Plc (RTP: News ,RIO.L: News ) said Wednesday its third-quarter business continued to perform extremely well, with record productions in iron ore, bauxite, hard coking coal, and US coal. The company also said its long-term outlook remains positive despite the troubles in global markets.

In the third quarter, the company's iron ore production rose 17% from last year. Australia generated 48 million tonnes of iron ore in the quarter, up 20% from the previous year. According to the company, it had sold 12.5 million tonnes of iron ore on the spot market by the end of the third quarter.

Rio Tinto, which operates worldwide with a primary focus in Australia and North America, also said its third-quarter productions of bauxite, alumina and aluminium were sharply higher than the prior-year quarter, reflecting the acquisition of Alcan. Rio Tinto acquired the operating assets of Alcan with effect from October 24, 2007.

Bauxite production surged 93% in the quarter to 9.02 million tonnes. On a pro forma basis, bauxite production was up 11%. Alumina production surged 222% to 2.19 million tonnes in the quarter, while it rose 2% on a pro forma basis. Aluminium production increased more than four-fold from last year to 1.01 million tonnes.

The company also reported a 13% rise in the production of US coal to 35.14 million tonnes, reflecting strong customer demand for Powder River Basin coal supported by the expansion in Rio Tinto Energy America's mines.

Further, the company stated that Australian hard coking and thermal coal productions were up 40% and 8%, respectively from the year-ago quarter. Uranium production also grew 13% year-over-year.

The company also said it mined 1.26 million tonnes of ore from Ranger, an 80% growth from last year, as the mining fleet concentrated on the recovery of ore in the bottom of the pit. Ore milled reached 487 thousand tonnes in the quarter, up 1% from the same quarter of 2007. However it was 14% lower sequentially, largely due to a planned one week maintenance event in the plant.
Ranger's uranium oxide production increased 31% from the second quarter to 1,349 tonnes due to the re-establishment of access to higher grade ore at the bottom of the pit. The company also projects that full-year production will approach the level achieved in 2007.

During the third quarter, the exploration and evaluation program focused on the northern extension of the Ranger 3 Deeps area, the company noted. Drilling will continue to focus on the area in the fourth quarter.

For the nine-month period, Rio Tinto produced 6.67 million tonnes of alumina, an increase of 230% from the previous-year period. Aluminium production surged 377% to 3.05 million tonnes. The company also reported a 99% upside in the production of bauxite to 26.35 million tonnes in the nine-month period.

Going forward, Rio Tinto stated that Chinese economy is pausing for breath and there has been a deceleration in its growth. China's growth is expected to be down by less than 10% from nearly 12% in 2007. The export sector is expected to come under pressure over 2009, due to weak OECD demand in the wake of the credit crisis in Western countries.

RTP closed Tuesday's trading at $193.99, down $9.51, on a volume of 628,600 shares.

RIO.L is trading at 2,578 pence on the LSE, down 248 pence, on a volume of 2.53 million shares