Kenmare Resources (KMR.L) has released its Q1 production report on its Moma heavy mineral sands mine in Mozambique. The majority of the production consists of ilmenite and thanks to the reopening of the Chinese economy the demand for pigment increased.
Kenmare mined a total of 9.26 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 4.13% resulting in a total of 315,000 tonnes of HMC resulting in the recovery of 204,300 tonnes of ilmenite, 11,400 tonnes of zircon and 1,700 tonnes of rutile. That’s lower than anticipated as the company had to deal with a lightning strike incident and higher slime levels. Additionally, the average grade of 4.13% is about 2% lower than the anticipated 4.2% grade for the remainder of the year so we should see a small uptick in the production numbers over the next few quarters based on all these elements.
Kenmare Resources is hosting a capital markets day tomorrow, April 26th so it will be interesting to see if the company tweaks its longer-term plans and what its interpretation is of the ilmenite prices going forward.
Disclosure: The author has no position in Kenmare Resources. Please read our disclaimer.
