From July to the end of September, Rio Tinto declared it has grown the implementation of its safe production system – known as the SPS – to two more sites.
In 2023, the uptake of the SPS across Rio sites resulted in a five million tonne production uplift at the major’s Pilbara iron ore operations.
With the program’s adoption at more sites throughout the year, including the two new sites over the last three months, the major is now on track to deliver another five million tonne year-on-year production uplift at Pilbara Iron Ore.
The SPS is now operational at a total 28 Rio sites, which Rio chief executive Jakob Stausholm said shows the system is continuing to deepen in maturity.
“We continue to strengthen our operations, with the roll-out of the safe production system delivering consistent production at our Pilbara iron ore business and a step change from our Australian bauxite mines,” he said.
“We are building on this, with more work to do across our global portfolio.”
The SPS was first launched in 2021with the aim to improve how Rio Tinto operated its assets, managed performance, and helped its people innovate.
“Through SPS, we are drawing on data more efficiently to understand asset health, maintenance scheduling and bottleneck solutions,” the company said on its website.
“We have started to see improved production efficiency, safety and engagement at the sites where we have deployed SPS.
“There are already hundreds of examples of how we are doing this. It applies to big, meaningful innovation and smaller everyday progress.”
Having recently announced its impending takeover of global lithium powerhouse Arcadium Lithium, even more operations will soon be opened up to the SPS’ potential.
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