PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Rare earths mine Lynas has reported record profits and sales revenue for the half-year ended December, on the back of strong customer demand.

Net profits after tax for the half-year reached A$156.9-million, up from the A$40.6-million reported in the first half of 2021, while revenue increased from A$202.5-million to A$314.8-million in the same period.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased from the A$80.6-million reported in the first half of 2021 to A$189.8-million.

CEO and MD Amanda Lacaze said on Friday that the financial results reflected the continued buoyancy of the market and strong customer demand for a sustainable supply of rare earths.

“Our customers remain optimistic about demand growth and market conditions are robust, as shown by the neodymium praseodymium market price which exceeded $100/kg in November 2021 for the first time since 2011.”

Sales volumes for the first half of 2022 reached 6 447 t, down from the 8 551 t sold in the first half of 2021, however, average sales prices increased from A$23.70/kg to A$48.60/kg in the same period.

The miner told shareholders that production during the first half of the year was impacted by Covid-19 delays, specifically at its Malaysian operations.

‘’Our team remains highly focused on delivering results, whilst managing the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. We continue to improve our ability to deal with these challenges, and we remain focused on the health and safety of our people and our host communities.

“Pleasingly, a number of Lynas 2025 growth project milestones were achieved during the half-year and subsequently which will provide a strong foundation to meet accelerating demand growth,” Lacaze added.

In line with the Lynas 2025 strategy, Lynas is investing in its Mt Weld resource, and is expected to accelerate this investment to ensure continued feed. Mining Campaign 4-1 commenced and the resource extension drilling programme was completed towards the end of the half-year.

Progress on the Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility continued during the half-year and in early February, the Ministerial Statement for the Kalgoorlie rare earth processing facility was issued under the Environmental Protection Act. The statement approves the implementation of the Kalgoorlie rare earths processing facility and outlines the conditions for the construction and operation of the facility, which are consistent with initiatives proposed by Lynas.

All necessary approvals for the Kalgoorlie project have now been received and construction activities have accelerated.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian permanent disposal facility (PDF) for water leach purification residue received environmental approval from the relevant Malaysian regulatory authorities in December 2021. The design for the PDF complies with national and international standards and builds on the nine years of safe operation of residue storage facilities in Malaysia.

“I am proud of our team’s achievements in continuing to improve our ability to deal with the challenges of the pandemic. As noted in our December quarter report, we are actively managing international logistics challenges and have chartered our own ships to transport concentrate from Fremantle up to Malaysia, providing more stability in feedstock for our Malaysian processing facility.

“Our customers expect demand will grow strongly as we move further into 2022, and we are positioning the business to meet accelerating demand through our Lynas 2025 growth projects,” Lacaze said.