BUZZ-Australia's Rio Tinto rises on Q1 production results

** Global miner Rio Tinto Ltd (Xetra: 855018 - news) 's shares rise as much as 2.1 pct, highest since April 16

** Q1 global iron ore production up 12 pct to 74.7 million tonnes, while Q1 global iron ore shipments up 9 pct to 72.5 million tonnes

** Rio Tinto reaffirms forecast that it expects to ship about 350 million tonnes of iron ore from its Australian and Canadian operations

** Company's average cash cost of iron-ore production is forecast at about $17 a tonne in FY15, down from $19.50 a tonne reported in FY14

** The miner's shares were down 13.7 pct over the past 12 months, and down 5.8 pct this year as of Monday close

** Stock among top performers on the S&P/ASX 50 index (Reuters Messaging: nitin.sj.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)