Commodities, Copper, News, Production

Sandfire taps into bullish copper market with revenue spike

OZ

Sandfire Resources has earned $813 million in revenue for the 2021 financial year after its copper production at the DeGrussa mine in Western Australia beat expectations.

The company surpassed its production guidance of 67,000 to 70,000 tonnes of copper to produce 70,845 tonnes.

Sandfire’s C1 operating costs have also met the lower end of its guidance at US$0.81 ($1.08) per pound, allowing the company to take advantage of this year’s record high copper prices.

“The low C1 cost allowed us to take full advantage of the very strong copper price which persisted throughout much of the year, helping to drive a 24 per cent increase in sales revenue over the past 12 months to a record $813 million,” Sandfire managing director Karl Simich said.

“This reflects very strong global demand for copper as the world increasingly transitions to electric vehicles and other green energy initiatives, all of which require substantial amounts of copper.”

Sandfire’s gold production also met the upper range of its guidance, with the company producing 39,459 ounces to sit within the guidance range of 36,000 to 40,000 ounces.

According to Simich, the DeGrussa operation has put the company in a strong position for the future.

“DeGrussa is a wonderful asset, which has delivered safe, consistent and profitable production across nearly 10 years of operations. The 2021 financial year has maintained this enviable record, with copper production exceeding guidance at 70,845 tonnes and our C1 unit costs remaining exceptionally low at US$0.81 ($1.08) per pound.”

“Importantly, our ability to harvest significant cash from the DeGrussa Operations has put Sandfire in an outstanding position for the future, giving us significant flexibility and optionality in terms of financing our future growth initiatives.”

Simich said the company’s mine lease at the Motheo copper mine in Botswana would add further value to the company.

“The most important of these in the short term is our exciting new Motheo copper mine in Botswana, where we secured the all-important mining licence award last week. This clears the way for full-scale construction to ramp up and ensures that we can maintain our development timeline of delivering first copper production in early 2023,” he said.

“We are also progressing an expansive exploration program across the Kalahari Copper Belt, the Doolgunna Region of WA, the Lachlan Fold Belt in NSW and our Black Butte Copper Project in Montana, USA. We are also continuing to actively assess business development and growth opportunities in the ‘green metals’ sector globally.”

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