Rio Tinto on July 16 reported second-quarter uranium production of about 3.149 million lb U3O8, down from 3.207 million lb the same time last year.

Rio Tinto has a 68.4% interest in Energy Resources of Australia Ltd.'s Ranger mine and a 68.6% interest in Rossing Uranium Ltd.'s Rossing mine in Namibia. Rio into said its share of production from ERA was 1.643 million lb in the just-ended quarter, down from 2.236 million lb a year ago. It said its share from Rossing was 1.505 million lb, up from 971,000 lb in second-quarter 2007.

The downturn at Ranger was due to lower-than-normal stockpiles of high-grade ore, Rio Tinto said.

Rossing had higher-grade ores than a year ago, it said.