Quebec Iron Ore Miner Triples Income In Q2

Champion Iron reported Wednesday net income of $56.03 million (C$74.2 million) in Q2 compared to $15.67 million (C$20.7) million during the same period a year ago.

Earning per share was nine cents compared to three cents, and iron ore production was 1.989 million wet metric tonnes compared to 1.542 million WMT the year prior.

Four years ago Champion acquired Bloom Lake from troubled Cliff Natural Resources for $10.5 million, which couldn't get a return on the mine due to low iron ore prices and a high carrying cost.

With iron ore prices up nearly 50% year to date to $117 per tonne, Champion Iron CEO David Cataford is trying to take advantage.

"In order to benefit from a favourable pricing environment for our product while our company remains unhedged, we have optimized operations aiming to increase short-term mine and plant reliability and thus maximize cash flow from operations," said Cataford.

"This initiative also allowed our team to push the boundaries of Bloom Lake and further identify bottlenecks which could eventually provide further organic growth to the company."

source: Kitco