"This is a significant milestone for Fortescue as Iron
Bridge represents our entry into the highest grade segment of
the iron ore market," said Chief Executive Officer Fiona Hick.
The company's C1 cost, representing the direct production
costs of iron ore, rose to $17.73 per wet metric tonne (wmt)
from $15.78 in the quarter, while it retained its cost forecast
for hematite at $18.00-$18.75 per wmt for the year.
The company said it sold its ore at an average price of
$109 per dry metric tonne (dmt) in the March quarter, a 13%
discount to the average Platts 62% CFR Index for the quarter.
Fortescue shipped 46.3 million tonnes (Mt) of the
steel-making commodity in the three months ended in March 2023
compared with 46.5 Mt a year earlier, but beat an estimate of
45.7 Mt from Barrenjoey.
It left its guidance for annual shipments unchanged at 187
Mt to 192 Mt of iron ore.
Fortescue said it aims to start mining at its Belinga Iron
Ore project in Gabon in the second half of 2023.
(Reporting by Savyata Mishra and Harhsita Swaminathan in
Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul)
