Australian miner BHP Billiton has announced its production results for the financial year 2015-16 ended June 30, 2016, achieving an iron ore output of 257 million mt from its Western Australian iron ore operations, rising two percent year on year as the Jimblebar mining hub operated at full capacity and as utilization at the Newman ore handling plant improved.
According to BHP Billiton, Western Australian iron ore production for the financial year 2016-17 is forecast to increase to between 265 million mt to 275 million mt. Further productivity improvements are expected to contribute to an increase in system capacity to 290 million mt per year in the financial year 2018-19.
In the financial year 2016-16, BHP's metallurgical coal production increased by one percent year on year to 43 million mt. Production is forecast to increase in the financial year 2016-17 to 44 million mt despite the planned divestment of the IndoMet Coal project located in Indonesia.