Rio Tinto continued to impress the markets with its performance, hitting a record on its output.
The mining giant has set annual production records for iron ore, bauxite, alumina, aluminium, refined gold and refined copper on a like for like basis.
"With significant expansion in iron ore and aluminium and the contribution of the Alcan acquisition, which created the world's leading aluminium producer, we are set to see an acceleration of this growth in 2008," chief executive Tom Albanese said.
"Against a background of record prices for many of our commodities and with a strong outlook for the demand for our products in the developing markets, we look forward with confidence," he added.
Rio Tinto's iron ore production set a new annual record at 179 million tonnes in 2007. On an attributable basis 2007 iron ore production was 145 million tonnes, a 9% increase on the 2006 total.
The Pilbara operations continued their rapid expansion with the Hamersley mines raising production by 17% compared with fourth quarter of 2006.
Gold production was 1.2 million ounces, a 23% increase over 2006.
"We are driving the business at a record pace, as the strong numbers clearly show," Albanese said.
