SYDNEY, April 18 (Reuters) – BHP Billiton ,
the world’s biggest mining company, posted a 14 percent rise in
March-quarter iron ore output versus a year ago and said its
guidance for Western Australian ore production was unchanged.
BHP said production from its Queensland coal mines “remained
constrained” as a result of industrial action and heavy rains.
Iron ore output totaled 37.9 million tonnes versus 33.2
million a year ago but down 8 percent from the 41.1 million
tonnes produced in the December quarter.
Copper production rose 3 percent to 281,400 tonnes in the
March quarter, which included 87,700 tonnes of mined copper and
47,400 tonnes of copper cathode from its majority-owned
Escondida mine in Chile, BHP Billiton said.
BHP Billiton is the world’s third-biggest iron ore miner
behind Brazil’s Vale and Rio Tinto, and the
second-largest copper producer after Chile’s Codelco.
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