PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Magnetite miner Grange Resources on Friday reported that iron-ore pellet sales for the six months to June had nearly halved on the previous corresponding period, as the company continued to rebuild production after the 2012 North Pit wall failure, at its Savage River operation, in the Northern Territory.

Iron-ore pellet sales reached only 731 086 t during the half-year, compared with the 1.1-million tonnes sold during the previous corresponding period, while iron-ore concentrate sales were down to 36 t, compared with the 23 525 t sold in the first half of 2012.

Net profit after tax for the first half of 2013 was recorded at A$2.5-million, on revenues of some A$106.9-million.

MD Wayne Bould said on Friday that the company’s main focus during the half-year was on the North Pit mine development, and re-establishing access to higher-grade material.

“We are pleased to report that this mine development continues to run to schedule and we have very consciously made significant reductions in capital spend in order to redeploy funds to mine development,” said Bould.

He added that year-on-year capital spend had been reduced by some A$10.9-million and redeployed to the North Pit and South Pit mine developments, while preserving the underlying financial strength of the company.

“While we are disappointed with the grade of ore extracted from our alternate mining operations during the half-year, we were able to maximise our production by mining 1.17-million more cubic metres and increased the amount processed through the concentrator by 7% from the previous half of the year, for the same costs.”

Bould said that this allowed Grange to deliver into its shipping schedules without impacting contract volumes and record revenues from mining operations.

“Re-establishing our access to higher grade material in the North Pit early in the fourth quarter will see improved ore grades, provide for greater pellet production and lower unit costs of production in a market where benchmark prices and demand for iron-ore products remains strong.”