Poor weather conditions have affected the financial performance of yet another miner, with Metro Mining recording a loss for the half-year of $29.4 million.
The company attributed the financial performance to operational and seasonal factors including:
- The planned wet season shutdown of operations from February 16 to April 10
- An increase in unplanned maintenance on an ageing heavy truck fleet in April 2022, since remedied by short-term replacement hire for the remainder of the financial period
- Unseasonably poor weather conditions impacting shipping at Skardon River in Queensland in May and June 2022
The group’s key project is the Bauxite Hills mine located in Cape York.
Metro said it reduced uncertainty and exposure to volatility through the following measures:
- Ocean freight exposure was reduced with the execution of contracts of affreightment, resulting in freight coverage on substantially all CIF contracted sales through to 2024
- Foreign currency exposure is being managed through foreign exchange hedging instruments in place for the remainder of the financial period
- Expansion of the Bauxite Hills mine from 4 million wet metric tonnes to 7wmt capacity per annum, subject to financing.Pic
Subsequent to the half-year period, Metro successfully completed a $25.4m two-tranche capital placement, comprised of $18.9m in additional funds and a $6.5m loan conversion of a portion of the short-term working capital facilities, and a share purchase plan capped at $2m.
The company advises that operations have experienced further shipping delays due to unseasonably adverse weather, reducing the likelihood of Metro achieving the upper end of the previous guidance, given the existing floating crane capacity. On this basis, the 2022 production guidance has been revised to a range of 3.6–3.8wmt, reduced from a range of 3.6–4wmt.
