Global iron ore shipments rose by 4% quarter on quarter to 68 million tonnes, with production up 2% to 68.3Mt.

The Pilbara operations achieved record production of 64.3Mt, with Rio’s share coming in at 51Mt.

Production for the nine months to September 30 was 184.1Mt, 4% up on the same time last year.

Global guidance of 265Mt was maintained for 2013.

Rio CEO Sam Walsh said it was a strong quarter on the production front.

“In iron ore, we achieved record production and shipments in Western Australia following the official opening of our landmark Pilbara 290 port and rail expansion, four months ahead of its original schedule and $US400 million ($A421.3 million) under budget,” he said.

Expansion of the rail, port and power infrastructure to 360Mt per annum is underway but options for mine production increases are being evaluated, with productivity improvements, mine expansions and new developments under consideration.

Meanwhile, mined copper production for the September quarter jumped 11% quarter on quarter and 23% year on year to 162,300 tonnes, as the massive Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia ramps up.

The concentrator is nearing full capacity of 100,000t per day and the mine produced 30,602t copper and 62,404 ounces of gold for the quarter.

Following the pit wall slide at Bingham Canyon in April, production at Kennecott Utah improved, with the recovery progressing better than expected and higher grades helping as well.

Mined copper production jumped 51% quarter on quarter and 38% year on year to 59,100t.

The quicker than expected progress on the construction of a heavy vehicle access road at Bingham Canyon prompted Rio to upgrade 2013 guidance for Kennecott Utah to 185,000t from 125,000t.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Des Kilalea said iron ore production was in line with expectations, but copper was a positive surprise.

“Overall a strong quarter for Rio, driven by strength in copper as Kennecott Utah Copper recovers more quickly than expected,” he said.

“Iron ore should lift from Q4 as the 290 ramp-up is under way.”

Semi-soft and thermal coal production increased by 14% over the June quarter to just over 7Mt, thanks to strong performances at Clermont and the Hunter Valley.

“Productivity improvements in our Australian operations led to record quarterly thermal coal production,” Walsh said.

Hard coking coal production declined by 6% to 2.2Mt over the June quarter, with Australian output down 10% after a geotechnical failure at Hail Creek.

September quarter bauxite production set a record of 11.2Mt, with record output from Weipa in Queensland increasing supply to the Yarwun refinery.

Today, the company formally opened the $2 billion Kestrel mine extension in Queensland, which will extend the mine life by 20 years.

In other Rio divisions, aluminium production rose by 3%, titanium dioxide feedstock was down 7%, while diamond production was flat.

On the corporate front, Rio sold the Eagle nickel project and Palabora Mining Company during the quarter.

The company is on track to exceed its $750 million exploration and evaluation spend reductions for this year, with expenditure for the nine months to September 30 down to $729 million from $1.5 billion in the same period of 2012.

“We maintained good progress against our strategic priorities to improve the performance of our businesses, strengthen the balance sheet and deliver our approved growth projects,” Walsh said.

“We are also making further important gains in productivity across our operations and continue to drive costs out of the business.”

Exploration during the quarter focused on the Pilbara, Bowen Basin, the US, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Russia, Uzbekistan, China, Namibia and India.

Around 40% was spent on copper, 19% on energy, 13% on diamonds and minerals (including the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea), 7% on iron ore, 1% by Rio Tinto Alcan, with the balance incurred by the Central Exploration division.

Shares in Rio jumped 2.5% today to close at $A63.20 and are up 3.5% so far this month.