(Reuters) -BHP Group ( BHP ) posted a 3% rise in first-quarter iron ore output on Thursday as the global mining giant benefited from efforts to ease bottlenecks at its Western Australia operations.

The company's South Flank operations ramped up to full operational capacity of 80 million tonnes (Mt) in the previous quarter.

The world's largest listed miner said iron ore output from Western Australia on a 100% basis was 71.6 million tonnes (Mt) in the three months to Sept. 30, beating a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 70.7 Mt according to Macquarie.

BHP recorded Western Australia iron ore output of 69.4 Mt in the same quarter of last year.

The company kept its fiscal 2025 output estimates for Western Australia iron ore unchanged at between 282 Mt and 294 Mt.

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee and Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)