Rio sets quarterly record

Rio’s global iron ore operations set a new quarterly production record at 65Mt and a new annual record at 239Mt, the company said in statement. Of that total, 50Mt and 185Mt were attributable to Rio for the December quarter and full year, respectively.

Rio's iron ore output increased 6% in the December quarter.

Rio’s Australian hard coking coal production was up 8% on the fourth quarter of 2009 to 2.28Mt and rose 20% on full year 2009, following increased investment at the Queensland operations.

Fourth-quarter output of hard coking coal was 2.28Mt, against 2.12Mt a year ago. Termal coal production in Australia increased to 5.15Mt from 5.02Mt.

The company's Australian thermal coal production was down 9% overall for the year, mainly due to wet weather in the Hunter Valley, Rio said.

Rio said the force majeure declaration at the four Queensland coal mines remains in place following major weather events in the state in recent weeks.

All of Rio's Queensland coal mines are operational but are still limited in some way by the weather impacts, including the impact on third party infrastructure, the company said.

Bauxite production increased 9% year on year in line with higher demand, while alumina and aluminium production were broadly flat, Rio said.