PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands miner Base Resources has reported a solid first half, with revenue up by 13% and net profit after tax up 4%.
Base reported revenue of $102.2-million for the six months ended December, while net profit increased to $17.4-million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 7%, to $57.5-million.
Base MD Tim Carstens noted on Monday that the Kwale operation, in Kenya, had delivered steady production, with 49 630 t of rutile, 226 730 t of ilmenite and 17 935 t of zircon produced during the six months under review.
While the volume of mined ore at the Kwale operation increased by 66% during the period, this increase was offset by lower ore grades.
“Kwale operations have continued to perform strongly as we head towards completion of mining on the Central Dune. The mine optimisation strategy we implemented in the first half of 2018 to address the decline in ore grades delivered as expected,” Carstens said.
“We are now focused on transitioning mining operations to the South Dune deposit in June this year, and continuing to pursue additional mine life through extensional exploration at Kwale, including the newly issued Vanga license.”
Meanwhile, Base is also progressing the prefeasibility study for the Toliara project, in Madagascar, which is due for completion next month.
“The Toliara project is progressing well with a number of activities advanced in the period, including plant test work and flowsheet design, infrastructure design, distribution of marketing samples and land acquisition processes,” said Carstens.
Base is expected to make a construction decision on Toliara in early 2020.