by Byron King
Daily Reckoning
Lately, I’ve been watching the iron business, in comparison with what’s happening in gold-silver. Along these lines, I just reviewed semiannual results from one of the world’s largest iron mining firms, Rio Tinto. Rio is a great old name, mostly focused on iron, as well as aluminum, copper and diamonds.
In the first half of 2016, Rio’s net cash was down 27% from comparable months in 2015. But the company’s net earnings were up by 113%. Higher prices for iron ore in the first six months of this year lifted Rio’s profitability, based on a pickup in China’s construction industry.
To keep Rio’s earnings growing, according to company CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques, the mining giant will continue to clamp down on costs.