BHP Billiton the third largest iron ore producer has stated in its recently released operational review for FY17 that it has produced 268 MnT iron ore for the year ended on Jun 30th.
The company reported that, BHP achieved a record breaking production at its WAIO (Western Australia Iron Ore) operations in FY17 and it has increased its on-ongoing fiscal target as well. WAIO produced 268 million tonnes of iron ore on a 100% basis in the year ended last month, up 4% from 257 million tonnes in the last fiscal.
The report says, improved productivity was the main reason to achieve its previous target of 268-272 MnT, for a record annual production at Western Australia Iron Ore. The output in FY18 is considered to be boosted considerably due to the Escondida Water Supply project going live and a ramp-up of the Los Colorados Extension project during the September 2017 quarter enabling the utilization of Escondida’s three concentrators.
BHP hopes for a 3-4% increase in WAIO output of the iron ore to 275-280 million tonnes in FY18. The company explained that it will continue to push for regulatory approval for the capacity ramp-up above 270 MnT and towards 290 MnT.
For the quarter of April-June, WAIO produced 70 MnT iron ore, up 8% Y-o-Y and 12% Q-o-Q.
Samarco
The Mining and processing at Samarco has not started yet as it was stopped due to the failure of the Fundão tailings dam and Santarém water dam in November 2015.
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