Vale reported its second best quarter ever for iron ore production in the third quarter of the year, along with all-time high volumes for copper, coal, phosphate rock and gold.

Nickel production also has experienced a strong performance this year, reaching the second high mark since 2008 for 192,000 tonnes for the first nine months of this year, compared to 173,000 tonnes for the same period of 2012. Total third-quarter 2013 nickel production was 62,000 t, 27.5% up from 49,000 t for the third-quarter 2012.

Iron ore production came to 85.9 million metric tons in the third quarter, up from 84 million metric tons for third-quarter 2012. For the first nine months of the year, however, Vale’s iron ore output declined slightly from 234.5 million tonnes for the first nine months of 2012 to 226.65 million tonnes.

Vale’s gold production achieved an all-time high figure of 76,000 ounces in the third quarter, up 66.2% from 46,000 ounces for the third-quarter 2012. For the first nine months of this year, Vale reported 197,000 gold ounces of production, up 68.1% from 117,000 gold ounces for the same period of last year.

During the third quarter copper output set a new production record at 94,600 tonnes, up 40.1% from 68,000 tonnes for the third-quarter 2012. The increase was attributed mainly to the successful ramp-up of Salobo 1. For the first nine months of this year, Vale reported copper production of 275,000 tonnes, up 30.7% from 211,000 tonnes of copper output reported during the same period of 2012.

Coal output during the third quarter of the year was 2.4 million metric tons, the same level as last quarter, which was a record. For the first nine months of this year Vale reported 6.5 million metric tons of coal production, up from 5.13 million metric tons for the same period of 2012.

FINANCIALS

During the third quarter of the year, Vale reported a net income of $3.51 billion or 68-cents per share, more than double the net income of $1.64 billion or 32-cents per share reported during the third-quarter 2012. Vale’s adjusted earnings rose to $5.88 billion in the third quarter from $4.28 billion for the third-quarter 2012.

However, for the first nine months of 2013, Vale reported a net income of $7 billion or $1.37 per share, down from net income of $8.1 billion or $1.58 per share for the first nine months of last year.