PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major Rio Tinto will continue its iron-ore push in 2016, with the miner predicting that full-year production will outstrip 2015 production by some 10-million tonnes.

Rio on Tuesday reported that its iron-ore shipments for the three months to December had reached 91.3-million tonnes, up 11% on the previous corresponding period, taking full-year shipments to 336.6-million tonnes.

The group’s iron-ore production was 87.2-million tonnes in the quarter, while full-year production was 327.6-million tonnes.

The miner told shareholders that the strong second-half performance was achieved following the completion of brownfield developments and expanded infrastructure in the Pilbara, enabling a draw-down of inventories, as well as improvements at the Canadian iron-ore operations.

For 2016, Rio was targeting iron-ore production of 350-million tonnes.

“Against a challenging market backdrop for the industry, Rio Tinto remains focused on operating and commercial excellence to leverage the low-cost position of our tier-1 asset base,” said CEO Sam Walsh.

“In 2015, we delivered efficient production, meeting our targets across all of our major products, while rigorously controlling our cost base. We will continue to focus on disciplined management of costs and capital to maximise our cash flow generation throughout 2016.”

Besides its iron-ore division, Rio also reported production growth in bauxite, aluminium, hard coking coal and thermal coal production, while copper production for the quarter declined by 13% compared with the previous corresponding period.

Mined copper production for the fourth quarter reduced to 111 100 t, with full-year production tipping at 504 400 t, in line with Rio’s previous guidance of around 510 000 t, as de-weighting and dewatering activities at the Kennecott operation, in the US, resulted in lower production in 2015.

The lower production was partly offset by a 36% increase in production from the Oyu Tolgoi mine, in Mongolia, which resulted from higher grades and throughput.

For 2016, copper production was expected to increase with higher production from Kennecott and an expected share of joint venture production at Grasberg, in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Rio reported that hard coking coal production was up 16% on the previous corresponding quarter, to 1.9-million tonnes, while thermal coal production was up 9% in the same period to 5.9-million tonnes.

For the full year, Rio delivered 7.8-million tonnes of hard coking coal and 22.2-million tonnes of thermal coal.

For 2016, Rio’s share of production was expected to be between seven-million and eight-million tonnes of hard coking coal, and between 19.3-million and 20.9-million tonnes of thermal coal. The thermal coal guidance included a contribution from the Bengalla mine, in Australia, which would be sold during the first quarter of 2016.

Bauxite production during the quarter was up 4%, to 11.2-million tonnes, while aluminium production was also up 4% on the previous corresponding quarter to 864 000 t.

Full-year bauxite production of 43.6-million tonnes exceeded the production guidance of 43-million tonnes, with record third-party shipments of 26.6-million tonnes. Aluminium production for the full year was in line with that achieved in 2014, at 3.3-million tonnes, with record yearly production at nine smelters offsetting lower production from the Kitimat smelter, as the modernised and expanded smelter was commissioned.