YouTube/Shraysi Tandon

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) apparently has made the right decision in placing Sam Walsh at the helm of the company. A year after being appointed CEO, Mr Walsh has broken company records when he reported on Friday that the miner had produced 266 million tonnes of iron ore.

While boosting production, Mr Walsh also reduced operating cash cost in 2013 by over $2 billion, improving shareholder returns. On news of the record iron ore production in its guidance, Rio Tinto shared went up 2 per cent or $1.31 to $65.55 on Thursday, although it is still lower than the $68.18 shareprice when 2014 opened.

With the higher production, Rio is closer to boosting total production to 290 million tonnes per annum.

Because of the impressive performance of the company under Mr Walsh, some shareholders said they want to increase their stake. Mr Walsh turned one year as CEO of Rio Tinto on Thursday, Jan 16. He replaced Tom Albanese.

Commenting on Mr Walsh's performance, former Rio CEO Leigh Clifford said, quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald, "I particularly like that Sam has put the next generation of leaders in position where they can demonstrate their capability."

Ross Barker, managing director of the Australian Foundation Investment Company, the sixth-biggest stakeholder of Rio's shares listed in Australia, said, "We have been encouraged by the changes in Rio. They are sort of focusing more on running the business for shareholders. They had those excursions into Alcan, Mozambique and elsewhere that really torched a lot of shareholder value, so we've welcomed the changes."

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