PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper/gold miner Sandfire Resources’ after-tax profit declined by 9% to A$30.6-million in the six months to the end of December, on the back of lower prevailing copper prices.

The interim profit compared with A$33.5-million reported in the previous corresponding period, despite sales revenue for the period increasing from A$249.6-million to A$264.2-million.

The miner said on Thursday that it had sold 32 500 t of copper during the interim period, along with 18 330 oz of gold, compared with 30 098 t of copper and 14 437 oz of gold sold in the previous corresponding period.

Sandfire MD Karl Simich said the DeGrussa mine delivered another consistent operational and financial performance for the first half of 2015, providing a strong platform for future growth and enabling the company to return cash to shareholders.

“The outstanding cash generation power of DeGrussa has enabled us to further reduce our debt, fund aggressive mine development and undertake a significant near-mine and regional exploration programme, while at the same time expanding our business development portfolio with our investment in Tintina Resources and declaring an interim dividend.”

Simich added that the interim results were also pleasing given the temporary suspension in mining activities at DeGrussa during the interim period to address water ingress issues.

“Mine production is now running at or above targeted levels of over 1.5-million tonnes, run-of-mine stocks have been fully replenished and now stand at around 50 000 t, grading 6% copper, and the outlook for the second half of the financial year is very encouraging.”

With mine grades on target to achieve about 4.9% copper, and Sandfire’s process plant improvement projects now installed, the DeGrussa mine was expected to produce about 4 000 t more copper in the second half (H2) of the year than in the first half.

For H2, the project was expected to produce between 33 000 t and 36 000 t of contained copper metal.