Australian miner BHP Billiton has announced its production results for the first quarter ended September 30, 2013. BHP Billiton expects a five million mt increase in the full financial year guidance for its Western Australia iron ore operations, rising to 212 million mt, supported by major iron ore projects coming online.
In the first quarter, BHP Billiton produced 49 million mt of iron ore, up 23 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The September quarter result is the first one to include the production from BHP's Jimblebar mine expansion project in Pilbara, Western Australia.
BHP Billiton stated that the Jimblebar project achieved first production six months ahead of the original schedule, contributing to the record Western Australian output of 54 million mt in the September quarter. The ramp-up of phase one capacity at Jimblebar to 35 million mt per year is expected to be completed by the end of the financial year 2014-15.
In the September quarter, BHP's metallurgical coal production increased by 14 percent year on year to 10 million mt. Total metallurgical coal production guidance for the financial year 2013-14 remains unchanged at 41 million mt.