Metro Mining hit a record for shipments from its Bauxite Hills operation in the past three months as the first stage of its $31.9 million expansion to 7.0 million WMT per annum took effect.

The company reported shipments of 1.6 million WMT (wet metric tonnes) and a site EBITDA of $16 million for the quarter.

After consistently achieving the 4.0 million WMT pa rate from May through July, Metro said its supply chain stepped-up to a 5.0 million WMT pa rate in August and September.

Metro brought an additional 90m barge (7400 WMT capacity) and tug boat into play last month to support a further increase in ship loading capacity at Bauxite Hills.

The company is ramping up further to the 6.0 million WMT rate this month, setting it on the pathway to achieve the 7.0 million WMT target in 2024.

The company said the site EBITDA of $16 million was an improvement on last quarter driven by economies of scale, despite more expensive small, geared vessels being used for incremental shipments and continuing above-budget fuel and labour costs.

“It is very pleasing to see concrete results from the gradual implementation of our expansion, enabled by loading of smaller geared vessels from August and also coinciding with the strong market conditions,” managing director and chief executive officer Simon Wensley said.

“The operation will continue to ramp up to the 7Mtpa run rate targeted in Q2 2024, enabling more of the economies of scale to flow through to bolster margins.”

The Bauxite Hills mine is located 95km north of Weipa on western Cape York.

Metro reported that traded bauxite market conditions remained strong, with improved delivered market prices in the September quarter.

Metro’s equivalent delivered prices are continuing to rise, up 7 per cent from last quarter, as contracts roll over.