By Rhiannon Hoyle

SYDNEY--Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) expects annual iron-ore shipments to reach only the low end of an earlier projected range, mainly because of disruptions to Australian mining and export operations caused by a tropical cyclone.

Rio Tinto, one of the world's biggest shippers of iron ore, issued force majeure notices to some buyers of its iron ore as it assessed damage caused by tropical cyclone Veronica to its Cape Lambert A port facility in northwest Australia. That shipping terminal has a capacity of more than 85 million metric tons a year.

On Monday, the miner said it expects the disruption, combined with damage caused by a fire at Cape Lambert in January, to result in roughly 14 million metric tons of lost production in 2019. So, full-year shipments from Australia's Pilbara mining region are likely to be at the low end of its forecast of 338 million-350 million tons, Rio Tinto said.

The miner said it was working with its customers to minimize any disruption in supplies of the steelmaking commodity.

Rail and port operations at Rio Tinto's other export hubs, Port of Dampier and Cape Lambert B, have resumed and are ramping up, the mining company said on Friday.

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2019 17:59 ET (21:59 GMT)

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