Rio Tinto remains on track to expand its iron ore operations despite earlier indications from the mining giant's CEO, Tom Albanese, that at a certain period the company will temporarily slow down on its output plans.

But at the moment, Rio Tinto iron ore chief Sam Walsh said on late Thursday that all indicators pointed to the expansion road, his projections likely buoyed by the investment pipeline of more than $260 billion reported by The Australian yesterday.

Citing figures furnished by the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE), the publication said that as of the end of April, capital expenditures that were lined up for the resource sector have spiked by 12.5 percent since November last year.

The same CAPEX figures further jumped by 34 percent if the period covered is extended over the past 12 months, the BREE report showed.

Linking that data to Rio's projections that China will grow by at least eight percent, Mr Walsh said in a Sydney forum yesterday that despite the negative outlook hovering lately over the commodities market "we're just not physically seeing that on the ground."

"We see the iron ore business as being a very robust business. We see that continuing in the short term and long term," the Rio Tinto executive was reported by The Herald Sun as saying on Friday.

His stance contradicts that of the latest declaration made by BHP Billiton chair Jac Nasser, who declared that his company will review its $80 billion expansion blueprint over the next five years, pointing to the softening market prices recently seen on iron ore shipments.

Mr Albanese also flagged Rio's likely gear-shift on its iron ore production goals, hinting last week, The Australian wrote, that once the company reaches the 353 million tonnes mark it may momentarily brush aside further upward push on output.

However, market dynamics in the short term, according to Mr Walsh, seem to indicate a steadying pace for the resource sector.

In fact, he added, "we're continuing to ship flat out with very good production."

"We see Australia is uniquely placed in relation to the product we offer but also the proximity to demand and that puts us in the box seat," Mr Walsh said.

He also debunked reports that accelerated mining activities could soon lead to the disappearance of the world's non-renewable resources, adding that over the 30 years, Rio Tinto will be able to meet the heavy demands of global industrialisation.

By 2016, Mr Walsh claimed that Rio Tinto will push up its present iron ore production capacity to 450 million tonnes, minus the detrimental effects to the environment as claimed by some sectors.