The world's second largest iron ore miner Rio Tinto increased iron ore production by five per cent in the September quarter to 67 million tonnes.
The result included record quarterly Western Australian Pilbara ion ore production of 63 million tonnes, also a five per cent lift.
Despite a volatile iron ore price in recent times, the company will push on with the next stage of its expansion to 283 million tonnes a year by the end of 2013.
It expects to produce 250 million tonnes this year, having produced 187 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2012.
Third quarter sales of 61 million tonnes were three per cent higher than the third quarter of 2011 and year to date sales of 170 million tonnes is up four per cent.
Mined copper increased 21 per cent on the back of better grades at its Chilean and US mines.
Thermal coal output improved 21 per cent for the quarter, but hard coking coal decreased 13 per cent.
Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese said the miner had delivered another strong set of production results.
"As we said at our investor seminar last week, markets remain volatile, but our business is resilient and our operations are performing strongly, reflecting our consistent strategy of running large, long-life, cost-competitive operations."
