Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals has topped its full-year production guidance of 165 million tonnes, putting at rest market speculation of recent weeks.
The world's fourth biggest iron ore exporter late on Wednesday said it had shipped 169.4 million tonnes of iron ore in the 12 months to June 30.
"Shipments were ahead of target due to the unseasonal mild weather experienced during the March quarter," the company said in a statement.
Fortescue shares have jumped by a third over the past month as the market bet on the company surpassing its full-year guidance, and as iron ore prices continued to trade at higher-than-expected levels.
At 1120 AEST on Thursday, Fortescue shares were down 4.2 per cent at $4.22, in line with a broader decline in mining and energy stocks.
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The company is due to release its detailed fourth quarter production report on July 27.
The higher production had been anticipated after Fortescue flagged the likelihood in April, when it said it had been helped by unseasonable mild weather in Western Australia.
At that time, chief executive Nev Power said the miner did not plan to adjust its daily production rate in order to limit its shipments to the guided target.
Morgan Stanley analysts on Thursday said that while the production numbers were in line with expectations, they served as a reminder that Fortescue had latent infrastructure capacity.
Fortescue, which has raced to cut costs amid a prolonged downturn in commodity prices, has benefited from the strong run in iron ore prices so far in 2016, which has allowed it to sharply scale back its massive debt pile.
Spot prices eased slightly to $US58.70 on Wednesday, but have largely stayed above $US50 a tonne since March.
