In its third-quarter results posted today, Rio’s Australian hard coking coal was down 5% on the corresponding quarter while Australian thermal coal output lifted 12%.

Coking coal production for the quarter was affected by a longwall changeover at the Kestrel mine in the Bowen Basin.

Kestrel produced 581,000 tonnes for the quarter and has notched up 1.68 million tonnes for the first nine months of the year.

Higher production of other coal during the quarter was mainly due to an increase in production of semi-soft coal in line with improved demand from the steel industry.

In the US, Rio Tinto Energy America’s output fell 7% as a result of reduced demand for coal-fired power and some customers switching to natural gas.

Rio said a 12% recovery on the previous quarter was due to the completion of maintenance outages at power utilities.

On August 12, Rio filed a new registration for the proposed initial public offering of subsidiary Cloud Peak Energy.

Cloud Peak Energy, comprising most of Rio Tinto Energy America's western US coal assets, is a major producer of coal in the Powder River Basin, operating two of the five largest coal mines in the region.