PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Iron-ore miner Atlas Iron has fallen deeper in the red, posting an after-tax loss of $245-million, despite reporting record iron-ore export and sales revenue.

MD Ken Brinsden said on a conference call that profitability for the year was impacted by higher noncash depreciation and amortisation charges, as well as impairments of some A$258-million.

In the previous financial year, Atlas reported an after-tax loss of $115-million.

“It was a bit of a challenging year both for the production and for the lower iron-ore prices, in comparison to 2012,” he said, noting that the board remained confident in the company’s ability to generate strong cash flows, and of the medium-term outlook for the iron-ore market.

During the financial year ended June, Atlas exported a record 7.4-million tonnes of ore, generating record revenues of $695-million.

During this time, Atlas completed commissioning of the Abydos mine, with mine production now ramping up. The company also approved the development of the Mount Webber mine, which Brinsden said would be contributing to Atlas’ overall exports from the latter part of the year.

The Mount Webber mine would increase Atlas’ output to some 15-million tonnes a year.

Atlas was also advancing feasibility work on the Stage 2 expansion of the Mount Webber project, and initial indications were that capital costs for the expansion would be in the order of A$60-million.

Meanwhile, Brinsden noted that Atlas was also in discussions with a range of infrastructure providers in the Pilbara, to offer transport solutions for its Horizon 2 growth projects.

The company had started discussions with a number of parties interested in getting involved in the Horizon 2 assets, through project equity or product prepays.

“We have been in discussions for a while, and they are still relatively immature. But there is interest, and we have a wide suit of participants from a number of countries,” Brinsden said.

He noted that while no firm commitments had yet been made, Atlas would be open to possibly divesting as much as 30% to 40% equity stakes in the Horizon 2 assets to secure infrastructure capacity in the Pilbara.