Australian miner BHP Billiton has announced its production results for the second quarter and the half year ended December 31, 2012.
In the second quarter, BHP Billiton produced 42.19 million mt of iron ore, up three percent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The company's Pilbara operations achieved another significant milestone during the given quarter with first ore received by the recently installed fifth car dumper at Finucane Island. This car dumper is the last major piece of infrastructure required to increase Western Australia iron ore port capacity from 188 million mt per year to 220 million mt per year.
In the first half, the iron ore output of BHP Billiton amounted to 81.96 million mt, increasing by two percent year on year. The strong outlook for the Western Australia iron ore business is supported by an anticipated five percent increase in production in the financial year 2012-2013.
In the December quarter, BHP's metallurgical coal production increased by five percent year on year to 8.88 million mt. The company stated that the strong recovery in production was largely offset by planned wash plant outages at South Walker Creek and Goonyella, and the closure of high cost capacity at Gregory in October 2012. In the first half, BHP Billiton produced 17.82 million mt of metallurgical coal, remaining unchanged compared to the first half of the previous year.