Mining giant BHP Billiton says iron output rose by a record amount in the third quarter
By Ian Armitage
Mining giant BHP Billiton has said that its iron ore production rose by a record amount in the quarter ended September 30, 2009.
It said production of the steel-making ingredient rose by 11 percent in the June-to-September quarter to 30.1 million tonnes.
BHP also reported an eight percent fall in copper output over the quarter and confirmed that Olympic Dam, the world’s fourth-biggest copper mine, would be operating at only 25 percent capacity for six months because of a damaged shaft.
That has helped push up copper prices to a yearly high of $6,570 a tonne.
BHP said it will not be back to full capacity until the first quarter of next year.
“Over the last three months there has been increasingly positive economic news across most economies. Chinese economic growth continues to be robust on the back of strong domestic focused consumption and infrastructure based stimulus spending,” the company said.
It added: “Despite the low metal inventories in developed economies, there is little evidence yet of sustainable demand for metals emerging post the northern summer. We continue to stress that this developed economy improvement is not without volatility and is from a very low base. We maintain our view that real demand follow-through in developed economies may not be transparent until mid-2010 calendar year.”
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Record quarterly iron ore production, despite the impact of tie-in activities associated with Rapid Growth Project (RGP) 4 (Australia).
• Record quarterly petroleum production achieved with the continued ramp up of commissioned projects and strong operating performance. On track to deliver 10 percent compound annual growth for the 2010 financial year.
• Quarterly production records achieved at North West Shelf, Hunter Valley Energy Coal (both Australia) and Zamzama (Pakistan).
• Shenzi (USA) and Samarco (Brazil) operated above nameplate capacity during the quarter.
• During the quarter, repairs to the Laguna Seca mill at Escondida (Chile) were successfully completed. However, quarterly production was impacted due to the plant repair downtime.
SOURCE: http://www.bhpbilliton.com
Edited by Ellie Duncan