Mount Gibson Iron Profit Down 71% 1H2013

Iron Ore mining company, Mount Gibson Iron (ASX:MGX) has announced its first half results to shareholders, traders and investors on the stockmarket.

• Mount Gibson Iron Net Profit at $37.1 million, down 71 percent from $129.9 million in the previous corresponding period.
• Mount Gibson chief executive Jim Beyer said, "The extreme price volatility experienced during the second half of 2012 underlines the importance of our focus on business optimisation, operational agility and cost reduction, in order that our business can remain robust even in times of high volatility. Together with our healthy balance sheet, this allows us to better capture the benefits of the stronger iron ore prices which are currently prevailing."
• For the half it received $94 a tonne for iron ore compared with the previous period with $134.80 a tonne in the second half of 2011.
• The company had sales of iron ore increased 56 per cent to 4.43 million tonnes, with forecast sales of between 8 million and 8.5 million tonnes for the full year.
• Mt Gibson will pay out a fully franked dividend at 2 cents per share.