SYDNEY, Jan 25 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) BHP.AX was on track to meet its iron ore production guidance for fiscal 2017 after reporting a strong second quarter for its most profitable business on Wednesday.
The world's biggest miner reported a 9 percent rise in iron ore output in Western Australia to 70 million tonnes for the December quarter from the same period a year earlier.
It maintained full-year guidance of between 265 million tonnes and 275 million.
"We have performed well during a period of higher prices, with record iron ore volumes achieved at WAIO (Western Australia Iron Ore)," BHP Billiton Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie said in in the group's quarterly operations review.
Copper output fell 7 percent to 357,000 tonnes in the December quarter, partly due to power outages at its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, which forced BHP to cut full year guidance by 2 percent to 1.62 million tonnes from 1.66 million.