Foreign media reported on January 17 that Rio Tinto PLC, one of the world’s largest mining companies, released its operation report for 2018 on Thursday.

According to the company’s report, copper production in mines in 2018 was 633,500 tons, an increase of 33% over the previous year. It is estimated that the output of copper in mines will be between 550,000 and 600,000 tons in 2019, and that of refined copper will be between 220,000 and 250,000 tons in 2019.

For its Kennecott Copper Mine, the company said last year’s copper production grew by 37% year-on-year, as mining continued to be active in a high-grade open-pit copper production area and production efficiency improved.

Rio Tinto said that bauxite production in 2018 was 50.4 million tons, a slight decline of 1% from the previous year, and at the top of the guidance range. Weipa’s Gove and Andom mining areas have strong output, offsetting the other two mines’sluggish output.

The latest Amun project launched its first shipment six weeks ahead of schedule and shipped a total of nine 600,000 tons of bauxite by the end of 2018.