JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Sierra Leone-focused iron-ore explorer London Mining achieved a group operating profit of $22.6-million during the year ended December 31, a $49.8-million improvement on 2012’s loss of $27.2-million, the company reported on Thursday.

London Mining’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation also increased by $68.3-million to $54.1-million, while the company narrowed its loss before tax to $19.2-million, which was a $38.8-million improvement on the prior year.

During the year under review, operating cost was reduced by 21% while shipping costs also declined by 21% and cash corporate overheads were 36% lower, London Mining CEO Graeme Hossie said.

"2013 was a year of real progress for London Mining, particularly at our Marampa mine, [in Sierra Leone],” Hossie said commenting on the company’s results.

The mine increased its full-year production by 108% year-on-year to 3.4-million wet metric tons (wmt), while full-year sales of 3.7-million wmt reflected a 186% year-on-year increase.

“Sales were almost three times 2012 levels as our modular logistics solution was expanded, delivering an annualised export rate of five-million wmt a year in November,” Hossie noted.

He added that, during the fourth quarter, the mine’s production was impacted by an extended wet season combined with the longer-than-expected completion of the new plant upgrades.

“This was compounded by a negative stockpile adjustment in December, resulting in volumes falling short of expectations and original forecasts. We have made improvements to our operations, in particular to build a substantially increased run-of-mine stockpile, to ensure these issues do not reoccur and, when combined with the completion of the commissioning of the plant upgrades, we expect to deliver production of 4.9-million wmt to 5.4-million wmt in 2014.

“[In future], we intend to complete our capital programme to [finalise] our life-of-mine expansion to 6.5-million wmt a year, reduce net debt and create a position where we can begin to return excess cash to shareholders,” Hossie explained.