There is speculation that Rio Tinto may be ramping up semi-soft coking coal production at its Hunter Valley mine operations ahead of their possible sale at a premium price.

Thermal coal production was 16% lower than the previous quarter and nine per cent lower than the same quarter of 2015, due to the impact of wet weather at Hunter Valley Operations in January 2016.

It also reflects the change in ownership following completion of the Coal & Allied restructure and the divestment of Bengalla.

The restructure of the Coal & Allied group came into effect on 3 February 2016. Under the restructure, Rio Tinto obtained 100% ownership of Coal & Allied and Mitsubishi obtained a direct interest of 32.4% in the Hunter Valley Operations.

Rio Tinto's interest in Hunter Valley Operations, Mount Thorley and Warkworth mines is now 67.6%, 80% and 55.57% respectively.

Historical production data prior to the date of the restructure reflects the previous ownership.

Rio Tinto completed the sale of its 40% interest in the Bengalla Joint Venture for $616.7 million with an effective date of 1 March 2016.

On 27 January 2016, Rio Tinto announced that it had reached a binding agreement for the sale of its Mount Pleasant thermal coal assets to MACH Energy Australia Pty Ltd for $224 million plus royalties. The sale is subject to certain conditions precedent being met and is expected to close in 2016.

Hard coking coal production was in line with the first quarter of 2015 and four per cent higher than the previous quarter.

Rio Tinto expects its forecast share of production to remains unchanged in 2016 at 7 to 8Mt of hard coking coal, 3.3 to 3.9Mt of semi-soft coking coal and 16 to 17Mt of thermal coal.

Thermal coal guidance includes a contribution from Bengalla up to 1 March 2016 and the share of production attributable to Rio Tinto prior to and following the restructure of the Coal & Allied group.