Rio Tinto expects to complete the second-phase expansion at its majority-owned Iron Ore Company of Canada by mid-2014.

The expansion of the facility in Newfoundland and Labrador will increase concentrate production capacity by six per cent to 23.3 million tonnes a year.

Analysts expect that up to $70-million in additional spending will be required to complete the project, owned 58.7% by Rio Tinto.

The facility’s output in the third quarter beat expectations and is up 12% so far this year. Production was four million tonnes, including 1.8 million tonnes of concentrate and 2.2 million tonnes of pellets.

Sales were 3.8 million tonnes, down from 4.8 million tonnes in the prior quarter due interruptions caused by wildfires, harder ore in the pit and scheduled maintenance downtime.