(Reuters) - Australia's Whitehaven Coal ( WHITF ) posted an 82% rise in first-quarter output on Friday, aided by rising production at coking-coal operations it bought from BHP as the miner pivots towards metallurgical coal. 

The country's top independent coal miner said its managed run-of-mine (ROM) production for the three months ended Sept. 30 was 9.7 million tonnes, beating a Visible Alpha consensus of 9.1 million tonnes.

This compares with 5.3 million tonnes a year ago.