Jan 16 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto reported a

1% decline in its fourth-quarter iron ore shipments on Thursday,

as the miner faced operational headwinds at the Yandicoogina and

Paraburdoo mines in the Pilbara region.

One of the world's largest iron ore producers shipped

85.7 million metric tonnes (Mt) of the steel-making commodity

from its Pilbara operations in the three months ended Dec. 31,

down from 86.3 Mt in the same period last year.

That missed a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 87.5 Mt.

(Reporting by Roushni Nair and Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru;

Editing by Devika Syamnath)