Australian miner Fortescue has announced that in December 2012 it loaded 8.5 million mt of iron ore at its Herb Elliott port facility at Port Hedland, Western Australia, achieving a record 100 million mt annualized run rate.

Fortescue stated that the December run rate was 23 percent higher than the previous monthly record set in May 2012, adding that the increased throughput was a result of a number of milestones that occurred in December, including the ramp-up of the second ore processing facility at Christmas Creek mine, first ore from the Solomon mine, and the opening of the Fortescue Hamersley rail line.

Works at Kings deposit is resuming this month to deliver an additional 40 million mt per year of low cost production by December 2013, taking the annual production rate to 155 million mt per year.