Rio Tinto says fire damages Pilbara iron ore operation

Mining giant Rio Tinto said a fire had damaged a facility at one of its Pilbara iron ore operations, though there was no word on whether it would impact shipping of the mineral.

The world’s No. 2 miner of iron ore said a fire broke out on Saturday night in a screen house at its East Intercourse Island port operation in the Pilbara.

Emergency services responded to the incident and the fire was brought under control with no injuries, the miner said in a statement.

Operations at part of the facility have restarted while impacted areas remained closed. An investigation to establish the cause of the fire had commenced.

Rio recently cut its 2019 outlook for iron ore shipments from the Pilbara due to production disruption and damage caused by tropical cyclone Veronica.

(By Wayne Cole; Editing by Sandra Maler)