Rio Tinto sets new cost-cutting targets

“My streamlined executive committee structure is now in place and demanding targets for 2013, including for cash cost savings,” Sam Walsh, who was named chief executive in January as part of a senior level shake up following a series of disastrous investments, said in a statement.

The world’s second-biggest iron ore miner after Brazil’s Vale said, in its quarterly production report, it was still on track to boost output of the steelmaking material to 290 million tonnes this year under a multi-billion-dollar expansion plan.

The company said its copper mine in Utah, the second-biggest source of copper in the United States would see a drop in refined metal output by about 100,000 tonnes based on an early assessment of damage caused by a cave-in last Wednesday.

The loss due to the accident, in which no employees were reported injured, could help combat a mounting global supply glut of copper that was weighing on the metal’s price, according to analysts.

The company was also hopeful it could commission its giant Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia by the end of June, pending resolution of outstanding issues with the Mongolian government over local employment and taxes.