Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said on March 22 that the group’s four replacement projects of iron ore capacity were expected to be completed in the first half of this year, which will ensure Rio Tinto's iron ore supply not be affected this year.

The originally scheduled time for production was at the end of 2021, but the project was delayed as the epidemic caused a shortage of labor.

The four replacement projects have a total annual production capacity of 90 million tons, and the total investment is US$5 billion. The development of the replacement projects was mainly to make up for the decreased iron ore output in the Pilbara region, Rio Tinto’s core production base.