(Adds background, comment on inflation, outlook) April 20...

(Adds background, comment on inflation, outlook)

April 20 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto (RIO) RIO.L on Thursday reported a more than 15% jump in first-quarter iron ore shipment, beating estimates, as it ramped up production at its Gudai-Darri mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

The world's biggest iron ore producer shipped 82.5 million tonnes (Mt) of the steel-making ingredient from Pilbara operations in the three months ended March 31, a record for the quarter. That compared with 71.5 Mt a year earlier.

Rio's $3.1 billion Gudai-Darri greenfield mine was

opened

in 2022 and is expected to reach its annual nameplate capacity of 43 Mt in 2023.

However, the miner warned of "persistently high" inflation in the U.S. and tightening of credit conditions from the potential banking crisis to weigh on economic activity across the board.

Rio's report comes amid a rebound in iron ore prices, which have been aided by lifting of the zero-COVID policy in top metals consumer China and the country's measures to support its struggling property sector.

It reaffirmed its annual iron ore shipments forecast of between 320 and 335 Mt and unit cost estimate of $21 to $22.5 per tonne of Pilbara iron ore.

Rio, however, cut its forecast for mined copper to a range of 590,000 to 640,000 tonnes from a range of 650,000 to 710,000 tonnes, due to the impact of a conveyor belt outage at Kennecott mine in Alaska and geotechnical challenges with the open pit mine at Escondida mine in Chile.