Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill is on track for record profits after a 4 per cent surge in volumes, but the iron ore miner's long-held export goal remains elusive.

Buoyed by the strongest iron ore prices in five years, Roy Hill was the only big Australian miner to capitalise on the price tailwinds in fiscal 2019, with the company increasing export volumes at a time when BHP and Rio Tinto's annual exports were declining for the first time this century.