Iron-ore miner Mount Gibson on Wednesday reported an aftertax net profit of A$138.7-million in the half-year to December 31, compared with A$7.4-million in the corresponding period.

The significantly increased earnings reflected strong operational improvement and record half-yearly high-grade iron-ore shipments from Koolan Island during the reporting period.

The company mined 2.95-million wet metric tonnes (wmt) of iron-ore and sold 2.52-million wmt in the six months, generating revenue of A$432-million.

Mount Gibson is targeting total iron-ore sales of 3.8-million wmt to 4.2-million wmt of high-grade ore from its Koolan Island operation in the 2023/24 financial year, at an average site cash operating cost of $65/wmt to $70/wmt sold freight on board, before royalties and capital projects.

Mt Gibson explained that the operational progress at Koolan Island followed the completion in the prior year of the bulk waste stripping programme, upper footwall ground support activities and processing plant repairs.

Consequently, the focus of activity was on substantially increased high-grade ore production and the sale of previously stockpiled ores to generate cashflow and accelerate the rebuild of the company’s cash and investment reserves.