On April 20, Australian mining giant BHP Billiton announced that its iron ore production in the first quarter of the current year rose by 6.6 percent year on year to 33.23 million mt, but decreased by 1.3 percent compared with the previous quarter.
BHP Billiton added that, despite unfavorable seasonal factors, iron ore production in Western Australia remained strong in Q1. Meanwhile, output from BHP's PampaNorte, OlympicDam and Antamina copper mines rose by 19 percent year on year.