Australian nickel-gold miner IGO revenue rises on robust prices, sales

Reuters | July 27, 2021 | 8:58 pm Australia Gold Nickel

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Greenbushes, the world’s biggest hard-rock lithium mine. (Image courtesy of Tianqi Lithium.)

Australian nickel and gold miner IGO Ltd said on Wednesday its fourth-quarter revenue rose 13.4%, boosted by strong nickel and copper concentrate sales and higher metal prices.

Revenue came in at A$266.2 million ($196 million) for the quarter ended June 30, compared with A$230.6 million in the same period last year.

IGO, which completed a $1.4 billion deal to buy a stake in Tianqi Lithium’s Australian assets last month, has been looking to focus on its nickel and lithium ventures, and said in April it would exit its gold operations.

Profit after tax was A$452.6 million for the June quarter, a massive jump from A$39.8 million in the prior three months, as it recorded a A$384.8 million post-tax gain from the sale of its Tropicana gold mine.

IGO said annual production was ahead of its guidance for all metals at its Nova operations in Western Australia, which focus on nickel, cobalt and copper.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenue jumped 44% from A$185.1 million in the January-March period.

The Nova mine produced 29,002 tonnes of nickel concentrate for the year, and IGO expects its 2022 output to be between 25,000-27,000 tonnes.

($1 = 1.3581 Australian dollars)

(By Sameer Manekar and Savyata Mishra; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)