Rio Tinto appears set to beat its own iron ore production targets for 2017 in a sign that hopes the proposed joint venture between Fortescue and Vale could reduce the oversupply in the global market will be short-lived.

Rio is not going to step back from the iron ore producers' fight, and Samarco, BHP's troubled Brazilian joint venture with Vale, is aiming to restart by the end of 2016 at 60 per cent capacity despite many observers expecting it to be mothballed for at least two to three years, or shut.