PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Battery metals group Independence Group is not expecting cost pressures for the mining industry to ease in future, with CEO and MD Peter Bradford saying industry participants will instead have to adjust to a "new normal".
“We have taken a more simple approach [to cost predictions]. So whatever costs we're getting, we escalate those going forward. It's really hard to see how we reset back to an old normal and I think we're just going to be looking at a new normal going forward on costs,” Bradford told a Paydirt Unlocked event in Perth.
IGO earlier this year reported cash costs of A$1.86/lb at its Nova nickel operation, in Western Australia, during the third quarter of 2022, up from the A$1.73/lb achieved in the second quarter, but below the A$2/lb to A$2.40/lb guidance set for the year-to-date.
Bradford said that production costs at Nova had been running below the guidance range as a result of higher by-product credits for the copper and cobalt in the Nova concentrate.
“We're getting the precious, obviating some of that with productivity improvements, and a higher pricing for copper and cobalt is helping. Ultimately that lucky band will stretch about as far as it can stretch, and then we will expect to see some of those costs come through in our headline numbers,” Bradford said.
The resources sector in Western Australia was facing a number of cost battles, including labour, transportation, supply costs and shipping costs.
“We've been working to obviate some of that by working on continuous productivity,” Bradford said on Tuesday.
“As an industry, it has been a real challenge and the way we tackle that is by working to develop what we think is iconic culture in the business that helps us to both attract and retain the very best people. And as a result our voluntary turnover rates within the businesses sitting around 15%. And as part of that recognition of the culture in the business, we get a lot of interest.”