Rio Tinto ramps up iron ore production

Mining giant Rio Tinto said second quarter iron ore production from its mines in Western Australia's Pilbara rose 8% to nearly 81m from the same time a year ago.

Pilbara iron ore shipments rose 6% to 82.2m tonnes.

Over the six month period, shipments of iron ore increased 8% to nearly 159m tonnes, while production rose 10% to almost 161m tonnes.

Rio Tinto will produce nearly 330m tonnes of iron ore this year, in line with production forecasts.

Bauxite production was 9% higher than the first half of 2015 and this enabled a five per cent increase in third party sales over the first half of 2015.

First half aluminium production was 10% higher than the same period in 2015, with the modernised and expanded Kitimat smelter delivering its first full quarter at nameplate capacity.

Hard coking coal production for the first half was 8% lower than the first half of last year and second quarter production was 4 % lower than the same quarter of 2015 primarily due to the timing of the longwall changeover at Kestrel.