In its first full quarter of financial reporting since the company began producing nickel, Mirabela Nickel Ltd
(ASX:MBN) has posted a $25.17 million loss for the March quarter.
However, the company says as its operations are in ramp up, management does not believe that these results are indicative of the company’s financial performance in future periods when it is in full production.
Mirabela says, as it moves to full production, sales and production volumes are expected to increase and unit costs are expected to decrease.
For the three months to March 31, 2010, the company produced 1,991 dry metric tonnes of nickel, selling 1,987 tonnes.
Looking ahead the company’s production guidance for the full year is between 10,500 and 12, 500 tonnes of nickel.
The company says whilst excellent progress has been achieved in ramping up all aspects of the operation during the quarter, the mining ramp up is currently four weeks behind schedule.
Mirabela says its operations team continues working towards achieving a sustainable throughput rate of 4.6Mtpa, on an annualised basis, during the second quarter of 2010.
Mirabela posted a profit for 2009, although a lot lower than its result the year before.
