Growing Western Australian nickel-copper-lithium miner IGO has lifted Dec 21 qtr (Q2 22) net profit after tax to $A52.3M, up 36% on the Sept 21 qtr (Q1 22), fuelled by a higher Nova, WA, contribution.
The bottom line came despite sales revenue easing 1% to $188M, in line with lower nickel and copper sales, offset by higher nickel prices. Underlying EBITDA jumped 19% to $122.9M on QoQ timing of Nova sales, but with net cash from operations down 45% to $72.5M and underlying free cash flow down 35% to $72.2M.
Nova nickel-in-conc moved up to 6,987t from 6,889t and cobalt-in-conc rose to 259t from 253t, with copper-in-conc down to 2,884t from 3,023t. However, cash costs were also down to $1.73/Ib Ni from $1.99/lb and spodumene conc output from Greenbushes, WA, eased to 259,000t from 268,000t.