BHP gave a half-year production update and said it would produce between 245 and 255 million tonnes of iron ore. The company in December restarted the Samarco joint venture, five years after a dam collapsed and killed 19 people in Brazil's biggest environmental disaster. Shares closed higher by 0.94 per cent to $46.30. Fortescue was up 0.04 per cent to $24.83 and Rio Tinto ended better by 0.14 per cent to $119.80. Among big improvers was supplier of materials for lithium batteries, Novonix.