London-listed, Africa-focused miner African Minerals has announced that in the first quarter of the current year it achieved a record direct shipping iron ore production of 5.3 million mt, compared to 2.2 million mt in the same quarter of the previous year. The company's shipments in the given quarter amounted to 4.6 million mt of direct shipping iron ore, increasing by 118 percent year on year.

According to African Minerals, direct shipping iron ore resources at the Tonkolili project located in Sierra Leone, West Africa now stand at 142 million mt, compared to the original resource of 126 million mt announced in December 2010.

The company said that it is targeting a 25 million mt export capacity by the end of the current year.