Image Resources has tabled another successful quarter of operations at its Boonanarring mineral sands project in Western Australia’s Eneabba mineral sands mining district, 80km north of Perth, despite rising fuel and shipping costs and inflation.
The company posted revenue of $54.6 million, up 46 per cent from the previous quarter. Image ended the financial year with a net cash position of $47.9 million.
Heavy mineral concentrate, or “HMC” production at Boonanarring was up 6 per cent from the previous quarter on the back of higher-than-average ore grades.
The widely publicised inflationary pressures and rising fuel and shipping costs affected the all-in sustaining costs, up 21 per cent from the March quarter.
A delay in a shipment from late March to early April resulted in sales peaking up 55 per cent bringing in a net mine operating cash flow of $22 million. The lower zircon content in HMC sold was reflected in the sale price down from a high of $961 per tonne in the first quarter to $909 per tonne.
Whilst commodity prices softened during the quarter, the price of zircon still tipped the scales at US$2,270 per tonne, an astonishing 56 per cent rise since the start of the year.
Similarly, the prices for ilmenite and rutile have been on a tear in recent times increasing by a whopping 67 per cent and 54 per cent, respectively, in the same period.
Image says the elevated prices were down to both a rise in the overall price of the commodities and importantly increased demand for its particular heavy mineral concentrate.
Management is currently concentrating on permits and development at its Atlas project, 90km north of Boonanarring.
The company is scheduled to kick off preparations for transferring mine and ore processing activities at the operation in the first quarter of 2023 following the depletion of accessible ore reserves at Boonanarring.
Image recently completed the transfer of the eighth tenement in the Eneabba tenement deal with Sheffield Resources, adding the West Mine North project to its growing arsenal of mineral sands projects.
The West Mine North project is west of the Brand Highway and is south of the Ellengail and Corridor projects. West Mine North and Ellengail are the highest-grade deposits within the Eneabba tenements and have a combined mineral resource of 24 million tonnes at 5.7 per cent total heavy minerals.
All up, the strategic Eneabba tenement acquisition has increased Image’s total minerals sands stocks to a whopping 6.4 billion tonnes.
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By Matt Birney
