Rio Tinto is planning to invest $833m in power and fuel supply projects to increase iron ore production capacity in Western Australia.

Rio Tinto will invest $520m to upgrade its integrated power and gas network to deliver an additional 120MW to sustain the current 230Mtpa capacity and support expansion to 283Mtpa.

An investment of $313m will be made for fuel infrastructure, supporting the expansion programme to 283Mtpa, and provide the capacity needed for expansion to 333Mtpa.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore and Australia CEO Sam Walsh said that the investment is a significant step towards the expansion of iron ore production by 50% in 2015.