Pilbara miner Atlas Iron recorded an AUD1.378 billion (USD1 billion) loss for financial year 2015, while revenue slumped 35% to AUD718.5 million.
Atlas Iron also reported a shipment of ore to China had been rerouted because of the explosion in the Chinese port of Tianjin.
The miner ramped up its iron ore exports 12% to 12.2 million tonnes in the financial year ending June 2015, and cut costs 16% to reach a break-even price of USD50/tonne. However, record-low iron ore prices meant it was costing the iron ore junior more to dig the metal up than it was selling for sending the miner to the brink.
Mines were closed in April, reopening a month later after Atlas Iron negotiated a contractor collaboration model and embarked on capital raising.
“The changing iron ore market has meant we have had to take large asset write downs and that hurts,” Atlas Iron’s managing director, David Flanagan, said in the statement released on 13 August.
“While Atlas Iron can’t influence the iron ore price, we have moved the needle on our cost base and are now seeing the results,” he added.
Cash on hand as at 30 June 2015 was AUD73.3 million. However, while a drop in the value of the Australian dollar has helped other exporters, Atlas Iron bears an expanding debt measured in US dollars. Since June the miner has gained AUD53 million in new cash from capital raising, half of what it was aiming for.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
