Rio Tinto Limited
(ASX:RIO) will utilise capital efficiency measures and productivity boosts to keep its Pilbara iron ore expansion costs under $22 billion and ward off the impact of the strong Australian dollar.
The global miner also announced current capacity in the Pilbara has risen due to productivity improvements, meaning the eventual capacity of the expansion program will also rise.
Rio plans to cut $5 billion in costs by the end of next year and reign in capital expenditure by more than $US1 billion next year.
The company will also cut spending on exploration and evaluation projects by $US1 billion over the remainder of this year and in 2013.
Rio Tinto generated a net profit of $5.98 billion in the first half of its 2012 financial year.
