Fortescue Metals Group has increased its iron ore production by 36% over the previous quarter, the company announced in its June quarter production report.
Fortescue mined 8.89 million tonnes of ore in the quarter, bringing its full year production to more than 31 million tonnes.
The company credited the increased results to improvement in surface mining, the optimisation of pit design to enhance surface miner in-pit working time and the restructure of the mining team for clearer KPI settings and accountability.
The amount of ore Fortescue shipped also increased, rising to 7.94 million tonnes up from 6.17 tonnes in the previous quarter, bringing its full year shipping tonnage to 27.3 million.
The increased production also came with a reduction in operating costs, the company said.
According to Fortescue, costs fell 36% to US$22.92 per tonne in the June quarter, giving it full year costs of US$27.46 per tonne.
The lower costs were attributed to abnormal expenses in the March quarter because of wet weather, improved efficiencies in the production supply chain and the cost savings initiative it launched earlier in the year.
News of the positive results in the production report sent Fortescue’s shares rising, up $0.19 or 5.59% at $3.58 in morning trade.