PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Mount Gibson Iron has reported a solid quarter during the three months to December, with direct shipping ore (DSO) production reaching just over 1-million tonnes, compared with the 1.1-million tonnes in the previous quarter.
“Mount Gibson delivered another strong performance in the December quarter. We maintained steady sales from the Mid-West as mining in the Iron Hill deposit wound down, and continued to make good progress at our high-grade Koolan Island restart project, in the Kimberley, where we are targeting first ore sales at the end of the March quarter,” said CEO Peter Kerr.
Mount Gibson sold one-million tonnes of ore during the quarter, generating revenues of A$72-million free-on-board. For the half-year ended December, sales reached 2.2-million tonnes, generating revenues of A$137-million.
“Operational cash flow from the Mid-West was solid at A$35-million, significantly better than the previous period due to higher realised prices and continued good cost control, offsetting our ongoing investment at Koolan Island, with cash and liquid investment reserves at quarter-end totalling A$431-million,” Kerr said.
“We are in the transition phase of an exciting new stage in our business. Mining is now complete at Iron Hill and sales from the Mid-West are scheduled to conclude in the current quarter. Concurrently, the restart of the Koolan Island operation continues to progress well and this will shortly establish Mount Gibson as Australia’s highest grade supplier of DSO hematite iron-ore.”
Since May 2017, Mount Gibson has spent some A$153-million on the restart of the Koolan Island project.