PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Hillgrove Resources has reported a 20.4% increase in production during the year ended December, compared with the previous financial year, despite only reporting an 11-month year as the company aligned its financial year to the calendar year.

Hillgrove made the fiscal year alignment in the September quarter.

Despite the shortened production period, compared with the previous 12 months, Hillgrove reported on Monday that production for the 2014 financial year had reached 20 693 t of copper.

After reporting a record copper production in the two months making up the September quarter of 4 429 t of copper, Hillgrove had predicted a lower copper output in the last quarter of the year owing to lower grades, with the Kanmantoo mine, in South Australia, transitioning from the Kavanagh pit to the Nugent and Emily Star pits.

While some extended transitional ore adversely impacted on copper recovery during the December quarter, both of the satellite pits were now providing higher-grade primary ore.

The processing plant reported record throughput during the quarter, and an additional large flotation cell was added as part of the future oxide processing plant, which assisted in improving ore recovery.

During the quarter ended December, copper production reached 4 826 t of copper.

Hillgrove shipped its twenty-second and twenty-third shipments of copper concentrate during the quarter, containing 10 114 t and 10 053 t of copper concentrate respectively.

Revenue for the quarter reached A$38.5-million, at an average realised price of A$3.46/lb, with full-year revenues reaching A$167-million.

Looking ahead, Hillgrove told shareholders that the next year would be a challenging one for the company, with uncertainty regarding the copper price and the overall resources market environment.

The Kanmantoo mine was expected to produce between 18 500 t and 20 500 t of copper in concentrate during the full 2015, along with between 5 000 oz and 6 000 oz of gold in concentrate.