MGX Resources Limited (MGX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for joining today's teleconference for the release of Mount Gibson Iron's December Quarter Activities Report. Mount Gibson Chief Executive Officer, Peter Kerr, will be leading the discussion and is joined by Chief Financial Officer, Gill Dobson; and External Relations Manager, John Phaceass. Mr. Kerr will provide a brief overview, after which there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] A recording of the call will also be available via the Mount Gibson website shortly after completion of today's teleconference. Thank you, and go ahead, please Peter.

Thanks, Lisa. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us to discuss Mount Gibson's December 2024 quarterly activities report. As usual, I'll give a brief overview before handing back to Lisa for any questions. And as a reminder, all currency we mention on the call is denominated in Australian dollars, unless otherwise stated. So as expected, Mount Gibson delivered a significantly stronger performance from Koolan Island in the December quarter, and that gave the company a strong finish to the end of calendar '24. This reflected the successful reconfiguration of the primary in-pit haul ramp in the prior quarter, and we've already talked about that, enabling us to increase ore production in the eastern half of the pit, which will be the primary source of high-grade iron ore over the remaining 2-year life of the operation. The improved performance for production and sales and costs means that the company remains on track to achieve its shipping guidance of 2.7 million to 3 million wet metric tonnes in fiscal '25, and our targeted cash operating cost is AUD 95 to AUD 100 per wet metric tonne shipped FOB. So just to give more detail on the Koolan Island operations. And firstly, in relation to safety. We've continued our trend of continuous improvement over the last 2.5 years. It's really been an excellent effort from all personnel at site. And the rolling 12-month LTI frequency rate remained at 0 and the rolling 12-month total reportable injury frequency rate which reflects lost time injuries as well as other injuries, again reduced, declining to 1.5 injuries per 1 million man hours of work at the end of the period, and that was down from 2.9 at the end of the September quarter and 4.4 at the end of June. These are positive results when compared to applicable industry standards, and obviously, strongly correlated with production performance. So we're continuing our focus on managing those safety risks. Mining performance at Koolan Island improved in the quarter as access to the upper high-grade ore benches in the eastern half of the pit opened up. Waste movement concentrated on the removal of the former eastern haul ramp and that's necessary to widen the pit to provide future access to the lower levels of that high-grade ore body. Ore production increased by over 40% to 643,000 tonnes in the quarter while total material movement remained relatively flat at about 2.5 million tonnes. The waste to ore strip ratio consequently approximately halved, 2.9:1, which is important given it's a major driver of cost of the operation. For the half year, ore production totaled 1.1 million tonnes at an average strip ratio of 3.71. And going forward, the strip ratio will vary in line with the waste extraction cycles each period and is expected to average less than 2:1 for the remaining mine life. Meanwhile, ground support remediation work on the central footwall area progressed as scheduled, and this is now over 80% complete and putting us well on track for finish by mid-2025 and subject to the wet season conditions. As you may recall, the groundwork -- ground support work involved on wall anchor drilling, grouting and the installation of protective mesh and a safety barrier fence to provide safe access to the high-grade ore zones directly beneath that supportive area. Weather related interruptions have to date been in line with internal allowances, however, increased lightning interruptions and rainfall associated with tropical load pressure and cyclonic systems can be expected now onwards. And in the last weekend, we've had quite a large rainfall. Pumping systems and people on site responded very well, and we were back mining ore within a few days, so no change to our shipping schedule. In terms of processing, crushing volumes rose to 732,000 tonnes in the quarter and totaled 1.1 million tonnes for the half year. Processing and sales will largely be aligned now with the ex-pit ore production going forward. And the focus of work in the processing function is now on the throughput increases, optimal maintenance and unit cost reductions. As you would expect, the increased mining and processing volumes flowed through to shipment numbers 9 Kamsarmax and they are slightly larger Panamax vessels. Shipments were completed in the period and that totaled 709,000 tonnes in the quarter at an average grade of 65.2% Fe. That took half year sales to 1.3 million tonnes, grading 64.6% Fe. We expect the run of mine grades to remain around 65% from here on, with occasional optimized reductions based on market conditions. So what that means is, at times, we might export some slightly lower grade shipments in order to improve the volumes. The improved performance resulted in a stronger financial results for the quarter. The island generated cash flow of $15 million from sales revenue of $99 million. Cash operating costs of $66 million equated to a unit cash operating cost of $94 per tonne that we shipped, and that was before capitalized waste mining of $6 million, capital projects of $2 million and royalties to state government and third parties totaling $10 million. For the half year, the cash flow for Koolan totaled $19 million and that was from sales of $160 million plus the insurance proceeds we received in the previous quarter of $27 million. Half year cash operating costs totaled $122 million for an average unit cash operating cost of $96 per tonne FOB, and that includes our ground support costs, but is before capitalized mining costs, which was mainly in the September quarter for the in-pit all ramp work totaling $24 million, capital projects of $6 million and royalties of $16 million. From a group perspective, cash flow for the December quarter was $16 million, and that comprised the $15 million from Koolan Island plus interest and other income of $6 million, less corporate administration and exploration costs, which totaled $5 million. For the half year, cash flow for the group was $21 million, and that comprised $19 million from Koolan Island, as I mentioned, plus interest and other income of $11 million, less the corporate admin and exploration costs totaling $9 million. So at the end of the quarter, after taking into account positive working capital movements of $7 million, plus we also spent $4 million on share buyback purchases with the company's on-market share buyback program, the company's cash and investment reserves increased by $19 million over the quarter to $431 million at year-end. This excludes the $20 million investment holding in Mid-West iron ore producer Fenix. So including that holding, the company's total cash and investment backing of $451 million equates to approximately $0.37 per share. Turning to realized pricing and market factors for the quarter. We saw a minor lift in the average 62% benchmark price index to USD 103 a tonne CFR, but that was quite volatile and also dipped below $100 a couple of times and returned there in early January before nudging back to around USD 103 a tonne in recent days. For us, the more relevant high-grade 65% price performed similarly was quite volatile and averaged USD 118 across the quarter CFR, so that includes shipping freight with the grade adjusted premium relative to the 62% material, remaining steady at around 9% per unit of contained iron. Shipping freight rates also eased slightly in the quarter to average $12 per tonne across the month, and that's for vessel journeys from Koolan Island to China. Consequently, the business realized an average price afterwards adjustments in shipping freight of USD 91 FOB for high-grade fines in the quarter, and that included a net minor positive $1 per tonne favorable provisional pricing adjustment. It's also worth noting that the prevailing weakness of the Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar is providing a welcome offset to some of the recent weaker headline prices. That being the case, we have taken advantage of conditions near the quarter end to add to the hedge book, and we added 290,000 tonnes of cover over the period, January to June, at prices between, and these are Australian dollars, AUD 156 to AUD 163 per tonne, and that's a CFR 62% Fe price. Since the quarter end, we've added a further 298,000 tonnes, and that's over the February to June period, similar prices of AUD 157 to AUD 163 per tonne and that's the 62% Fe equivalent. So looking beyond our current operations, I just want to reiterate our objectives as we've done before, which are twofold. Firstly, the team here is focused very much on safely maximizing production and cash flow generation from the Koolan Island operation. It's a challenging operation and particularly as we have wet season seasonal impacts, but achieving this objective allows the company to achieve the second objective, which is to have a very strong balance sheet with cash reserves to pursue investments and opportunistic acquisitions to try and create a larger, more profitable company. So on the back of our strong cash generation in the last 18 months, we've made investments in a number of junior resources companies where we consider that there are future financing or strategic opportunities that may arise. And we're seeking to use our skills and some of the assets we might have in those opportunities. We're also expanding our in-house exploration portfolio and have applied to several new tenement packages and entered negotiations for earning arrangements. And those are in areas of prospective for base metals predominantly in Western Australia and over East. And finally, as flagged in the quarterly report, we're scheduled to release the company's December 24 half year financial statements on 19 February. We've also noted that despite Koolan Island remaining commercially robust with a healthy cash flow outlook. We're required to take into account the recent volatility of iron ore prices in our usual period-end reviews of accounting carrying values, and we do anticipate a potential noncash accounting impairment which would effectively bring forward future depreciation and amortization charges. So to finish, in relation to our outlook, we're tracking to achieve our sales guidance of 2.73 million tonnes in fiscal '25 at our targeted cash operating cost of AUD 95 to AUD 100 FOB and continue to expect to improve our production and shipping rates over the remainder of fiscal '25 and following periods. Although market conditions have been softer at times, we see a steady outlook for high-grade iron ore prices, and we seek to generate cash flows through Koolan Island to advance our new investment and acquisition opportunities. And with that, I'll hand back to you, Lisa, for any questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions]

It's Glyn Lawcock of Barrenjoey. Two quick ones, if I could. Just obviously, I always ask this, but just -- you've obviously got a major shareholder and a customer. Anything -- any insights they're sharing with you on the state of the Chinese economy and how they're thinking about 2025?

Feedback at the moment, Glyn, is pretty neutral. In terms of where iron ore price is, the feeling is that sort of $95 to $110 type range. seems to be a fairly stable point. I haven't heard any real -- more negatives than that, but I really haven't heard global great positives as well. It's just been that general range based on a range of expectations for steel usage in infrastructure, exports and some property stimulus.

Any sense of what they're thinking as we exit winter into the spring? Do you think we'd see the normal seasonality of strong steel production run rates that helps drag the iron ore price up?