Rio Tinto Australian operations achieve record production

Global mining giant, Rio Tinto's Australian operations have achieved record production in iron ore, alumina and coking coal to allow the company to cash in on higher prices for its headline products.

Chief executive Tom Albanese said in a statement on the latest quarterly production levels, ''We have delivered consistently strong operating performance in 2010 and the third quarter was no exception.''

''We continue to run our operations close to, or above, capacity rates, taking advantage of strong prices for our products.''

The chief of the global mining giant said that investment in organic growth was gaining momentum, and the miner had approved more than $4 billion worth of capital projects during the third quarter. This includes investment towards the expansion of its Pilbara iron ore operations to 330 million tonnes per annum.

''This takes our total approvals this year to $5.5 billion and is consistent with our capex guidance of $13 billion over the 18 months to December 2011,'' Albanese said.

The company's iron ore Pilbara operations in Western Australia, operated in excess of the nameplate capacity matching the record third-quarter 2009 production of 56.8 million tonnes during the quarter.