The six months to December 31 2024 were a mixed bag for Mineral Resources (MinRes), but managing director Chris Ellison is confident the company’s growing pains will be short-lived.
MinRes’ underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) was down 55 per cent on the first half of 2024 to $302 million.
Despite the dip, the company’s mining services reported a record underlying EBITDA of $379 million, a 49 per cent jump on the first half of 2024.
MinRes’ shipments also saw pushes in the right direction, with iron ore exports increasing 11 per cent to 9.7 wet metric tonnes and lithium jumping 28 per cent to 261 dry metric tonnes.
“Across the first half we made huge progress in ramping up production at Onslow Iron, a project that will transform the quality of our earnings across commodities and mining services,” Ellison said.
“I acknowledge investors’ focus on our balance sheet, which reflects a period of high construction spend at Onslow Iron.
“Capital expenditure peaked in the first half and Onslow Iron is now generating positive cash flow, which will enable us to accelerate efforts to deleverage the balance sheet.”
Ellison said the MinRes board has temporarily halted dividend payments to give the company room to find its footing.
“It has been a challenging six-month period for MinRes, but our Company has a history of weathering storms and coming out stronger,” he said.
“It is a credit to the dedication and professionalism of the MinRes team that we remain in a strong position and well placed to deliver improved performance going forward.”
Onslow, which shipped first ore in May 2024 ahead of schedule, is in the process of ramping up to 35 million tonnes (Mt) per year with an expected mine life of more than 30 years.
