They have moved 16% more material than in the previous qtr 12.1MT vs 10.4MT. Despite this the mining cash costs declined to $3.61/lb. Given the expected material movement is likely to be closer to 10MT/Qtr, there is potential for the mining costs to decrease further.
Not sure why processing and admin costs were higher, but I suspect there must have been some ramp-up and redundancy payments. However at higher throughput levels, these costs should decline
Mining costs are they key input costs (c50% of total C1 costs). If MBN can get these costs under control, it will go a long way in reducing the costs to under US$6/lb. I guess we will have to wait and see.
MBN Price at posting:
48.2¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
