BHP billiton added 9.7 million tons of production in the first quarter from a year earlier

This week, four big mines (Rio tinto, vale, BHP billiton and fortesoft) released first-quarter production figures.Production at the four mines continued to increase this year, by an average of 12.6 per cent, including 20 per cent at BHP billiton and fortesoft, which added 9.7m tonnes from a year earlier.

Rio's production rose 12 per cent year on year

On April 21, Rio tinto released its production report for the first quarter of 2015.According to the report, Rio tinto shipped 72.5 million tons of iron ore globally in the quarter (57.3 million tons in proportion to its equity), up 9 percent from the first quarter of 2014 but down 12 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014.Global iron ore production was 74.7m tonnes (59.4m tonnes for Rio), up 12 per cent from the same period in 2014.

Sam Wells, chief executive, said: "production grew steadily in the first quarter as Rio continued to improve efficiency at all levels of the business.By maximizing Rio tinto's high quality assets, low costs, and operational and commercial capabilities, our objective is to ensure profitability and maximize shareholder returns in the face of falling prices."

BHP's production rose 20 per cent year on year

On April 22, BHP released the first three quarters of its 2015 fiscal year report, which showed that BHP's iron ore production in the quarter was 58.97 million tons, up 20% year-on-year and 5% quarter-on-quarter.BHP produced 172m tonnes of iron ore in the first three quarters of fiscal 2015, up 17 per cent from the same period in 2014.

"In iron ore, our focus is on continuous efficiency improvements to bring down the cost of mining iron ore in western Australia, where our cash cost of iron ore is currently below $20 a tonne," said BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie.

The report expects production from the western Australian mines to reach 250 million tons in fiscal 2015.In addition, BHP billiton pointed out that due to the construction of infrastructure, more than expected, temporarily postpone port expansion project (TheInnerHarbourDebottleneckingproject), which would make it not so fast to reach 290 million tons of production targets.

Fortestesian production rose 20 per cent year on year

Recently, FMG released the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 (January to March 2015) report.In the quarter, fortesia iron ore production was 35.5 million tons, up 20% year-on-year and down 19% month-on-month.Shipments were 40.4 million tonnes, up 28 per cent year-on-year and down 2 per cent month-on-month.

It is reported that fortescue increased its guidance target for shipments in fiscal 2015 to 160 million to 165 million tons.Following the completion of port elliot's fifth berth, FMG has completed all expansion investments and reduced future sustainable capital expenditure.

FMG's cash costs were us $25.9 per wet ton in the quarter, down 9% from the previous quarter.CFS was us $34 / t, 17% lower than the previous quarter.The company plans to reduce production costs to $20 per wet ton by June 2015.The cash cost guidance for the next quarter is us $23 / wet ton to us $24 / wet ton, us $26 / wet ton to us $27 / wet ton for fiscal year 2015 (at an average exchange rate of us $1 / usd 0.77) and us $18 / wet ton for fiscal year 2016.

In addition, on April 23, FMG issued an announcement that it would issue $2.3 billion of senior secured notes with an annual interest rate of 9.75%, which will be issued for seven years and cannot be redeemed for the first three years. The financing will be completed on April 27.Fortesoft expects net proceeds of about $2.203 billion (excluding discounts and commission costs) from the financing.The proceeds will be used to redeem senior unsecured notes for 2017 and 2018, convert portions of 2019 notes, and repay, redeem and repurchase loans due 2019.

"Despite the volatility caused by the iron ore oversupply, we have worked tirelessly and consistently to reduce costs and ensure that we continue to generate cash profits, which increased to $1.8bn at the end of the quarter," said FMG President Charles panaway.

Vale is producing record volumes

On April 23rd vale released its first-quarter production report.Vale had a strong first quarter of 2015, with iron ore production reaching 74.5m tonnes (excluding production acquired by third parties and Samarco joint ventures), up 4.8 per cent from 71.06m tonnes in the first quarter of 2014 and the highest on record.Among them, karagas production reached 27.5 million tons, the highest production record in the same period in history.

In December 2014, the karagas N4WS mine opened for operation, which will not only further increase production, but also reduce stripping and mining ratios and reduce average haulage distances.N4WS is part of the world class N4W orebody, with proven and probable reserves of 1.346 billion tons and an average iron content of 66.5%.

In the first quarter, vale produced 11.4m tonnes of pellets (3.5m tonnes excluding the Samarco joint venture), the same as in the fourth quarter of 2014 and 1.5m tonnes more than in the same period last year, helped by an increase in production at tubaran 8.