Nickel miner Mincor says it is well placed to capitalise on a turnaround in the nickel market, even as the miner slumped to a loss of more than $20 million for the 2013 financial year.
Mincor announced today a $22.4 million net loss for the year ended June 30, with the falling nickel price and $15.5 million in impairments creating a drag on its operations.
Mincor said today its net loss came in at $22.45 million, down from a profit of $240,000 this time last year.
The miner said its after tax loss before write-offs and impairments was $6.2 million, which reflected the 15 per cent drop in average realised nickel prices for the year.
The impairments, which mainly came on exploration, include $11.4 million in cumulative costs in Papua New Guinea and $4.1 million of Australian exploration costs.
Mincor produced 9,688 tonnes of nickel in ore at cash costs of $5.34 per pound of payable nickel, down from 10,285 tonnes at $5.78/lb in FY2012.
Sales revenues fell 19 per cent to $98.58 million.
Managing director David Moore said the company’s efforts to reduce its cash costs partly offset the impact of the weaker nickel price.
Mincor will continue its unbroken run of dividend payments to shareholders and will pay a final dividend of 2 cents per share, fully franked.
Mr Moore said the miner would continue to target cost reductions and operational improvements in the current financial year.
“The low nickel price environment continues to make nickel mining a challenging business at the moment, however we are confident in our ability to manage the downturn and we remain equally confident that the company is in great shape to benefit from the market rebound when it comes,” Mr Moore said in a statement.
Mr Moore said the company would spend approximately $22 million on exploration in FY2014, up from $14.87 million in FY2013.
"This includes $15 million for the ongoing capital development of our mines and $7 million to pursue hihg-quality gold and nickel exploration targets right in our own backyard," Mr Moore said.
At 2:00PM, WST, Mincor shares were up 6.1 per cent, at 69 cents.
