The main reason CSM profits are down is rising costs and falling...

The main reason CSM profits are down is rising costs and falling manganese and nickel prices.
We are now seeing a reverse in these trends going foward.
Inventories in both Manganese and Nickel are falling and prices are set to rise.
The stockpile of manganese has fallen from 1.75 million tonnes to 700,000, below the industry average of 800,000.
Inventories on the LME have dropped dramitically on the back of impending strike action in the US and the price of nickel jumped 3%.

See article
http://metalsplace.com/metalsnews/?a=4136

All Australian nickel companies including CSM stand to benefit from this situation over the next 4 months or so.

Further in costs are set to fall. They are only so high at the moment because CSM has been trying to get the Kambalda nickel project up and running. These are establishment costs and are one off in nature.

Kiernan has confirmed this in a recent interview.

"CSM has been pouring its free cash into the development of its nickel mines at Kambalda and, while the project had taken a bite out of the latest profit figure, nickel would become a major contributor."

New incoming CEO Baxter has made cost cutting as his brief upon coming into the top job.
He should find this relatively easy as most of the costs will not be incurred in the proceeding half year or for a number of years for that matter. Everything has been paid for in this half and will not impact on the final result.
A number of other statements made indicate this may well be the case.
First, even though the company made $7 million Kiernan still maintains the company will produce profit of $85 million dollars by the end of the financial year.
This will be due in part to lower costs on goods sold increased production and higher prices. Costs down, volume up and prices up. Is a picture emerging?
Second another statement I read is that nickel is said to reduce manganese's contribution from 70% to 40%. Already 21% of revenue in the last half is coming from nickel and is set to go higher.