Mineral Resources is focused on ramping-up its iron ore operations after a major restructuring last year of its lithium assets, with the company also declaring an increased dividend today.
Led by managing director Chris Ellison, the company today reported a statutory net profit of $884 million for the half year to December, and underlying net profit of $129 million, up 279 per cent.
The statutory profit included a big gain on the sale of a 60 per cent interest in the Wodgina lithium project to US company Albemarle Corporation.
The result also included post-tax impairment charges of $114 million in relation to capitalised exploration and mine development expenditure, plant and equipment and stockpiles.
The company ramped-up its Koolyanobbing iron ore production to 3.2 million tonnes for the half year.
Combined with production at the Iron Valley mine in the Pilbara, the company exported a total of 6.7mt of iron ore.
The group’s average iron ore price achieved was $103 per wet metric tonne, an increase of 58 per cent.
The company plans to increase production at Koolyanobbing to an annualised rate of 11mt by the end of February and is aiming for production of 15mtpa by 2021.
Its growth plans include brining its Parker Rage mine, located south of Southern Cross, into production in April.
The iron ore operation, which exports via Esperance, will directly employ 800 people across the mine, rail and port facilities.
The company said Iron Valley was a high cost mine with low grade ore but would continue to operate at 8mtpa while reasonable prices prevailed.
Its half-owned Mt Marion lithium mine produced an EBITDA of $16 million for the group, down 67 per cent reflecting sharply lower prices.
The company declared a fully franked interim dividend of 23 cents per share, an increase of 77 per cent on the interim dividend for 1H19.
“The first half of this financial year has set MRL up to deliver another year of strong performance for all shareholders while delivering outcomes in line with our long-term goals,” Mr Ellison said.
“I am pleased to reaffirm the full-year guidance that we provided at our AGM in November.”
