Australian miner BHP Billiton has announced its production results for the first quarter ended September 30 of the financial year 2017-18, achieving an iron ore output of 55.58 million mt from its Western Australian iron ore operations, decreasing by three percent year on year. In the September quarter, the company’s iron sales from its Western Australian iron ore operations totaled 54.63 million mt, declining by 3.2 percent year on year.
According to BHP Billiton, the Western Australian iron ore production forecast for the financial year 2017-18 remains at between 239 million mt and 243 million mt.
In the given quarter, BHP's metallurgical coal production remained stable at 10.56 million mt, compared to the same period of the previous year. The company’s metallurgical coal production guidance for the financial year 2017-18 also remains unchanged at between 44 million mt and 46 million mt. Meanwhile, BHP stated that, at its subsidiary Queensland Coal, mining operations have recovered following the impacts of Cyclone Debbie, with record production at Saraji and increased production at the Peak Downs and Caval Ridge mines, underpinned by an improvement in trucking hours and utilization of latent wash-plant capacity.