Higher iron ore and coal production led to a strong third quarter performance for Rio Tinto. As a result, the Australian mining firm is expected to break its record $14.43 billion profit in 2010.

According to Rio Tinto's third quarter production report released Thursday, the company's Pilbara and Canadian iron ore production hit 64 million tonnes, up by 5 per cent from the previous quarter.

With that production output, Rio Tinto's production for the first three quarters reached 179 million tonnes. The firm would need just 61 million tonnes more for the last quarter to achieve its 240 million tonne production target for 2011.

The report boosted Rio Tinto's shares by 2.7 per cent or $1.88 to $69.34. Rio Tinto's increase was higher compared to thr 56 cents or 1.5 per cent gain by BHP Billiton, which is scheduled to release its third quarter production report on Wednesday.

With the strong performance, analysts forecast Rio Tinto would earn more than $17 billion for 2001.

"We are operating at full capacity, selling all we produce and out growth program is on track, supported by the strength of our balance sheet," Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese said in a statement.

"Whilst we are mindful of current market volatility, the fundamentals are holding up well, particularly for bulk traded (iron, coking coal and steaming) commodities," he added.

Although coking coal prices had gone down recently, the spot price of $256 a tonne is higher than the 2010 average of $217. Steaming coal prices moved higher to $125 a tonne from 2010's average price of $98.

Global copper production, however, declined 32 percent in the third quarter due to strikes by Chilean and Indonesian gold mine workers.