Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) reported it surpassed analysts' expectations for iron ore production in the third quarter, breaking its own quarter record in the segment, while also breaking quarterly production records for coking coal and alumina.
Iron ore production was up 10 percent, alumina 6 percent and coking coal 17 percent. Another metal gaining significantly was bauxite, which gained 17 percent in the same period.
The company said: "This quarter we achieved record production in iron ore, alumina and coking coal. Our investment in organic growth is gathering momentum. We approved more than $4 billion of capital projects during the third quarter, including investment towards the expansion of our Pilbara iron ore operations to 330 million tons 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."
The bad news for the company was gold and copper production was down at a time when prices for both metals have been skyrocketing. Copper was down 19 percent and gold 33 percent in the third quarter.
Also slightly down was aluminum production, dropping 2 percent, and thermal coal production in Australia, which fell 14 percent.
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