IRC boosts iron ore concentrate production 31% in Q3
MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - IRC Limited (IRC), the Petropavlovsk plc spin-off that is developing iron ore projects in Russia's Far East, produced 617,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate and sold 632,000 tonnes in Q3 2018, the company said in a statement.
This is 31% and 39% more, respectively, than in the same period last year.
Production in January-September rose 44% year-on-year to 1.677 million tonnes and sales rose 46% to 1.678 million tonnes.
At the end of Q3 2018, the unaudited cash and deposit balance amounted to US$19 million while the total debt outstanding balance amounted to US$233 million.
IRC's Kimkan and Sutara (K&S) field in the Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia's Far East operated at 77% capacity on average in Q3.
IRC operating results, '000 tonnes:
| Q3 2018 | Q3 2018/Q3 2017 | Q3 2018/Q2 2018 | 9M 2018* | 9M 2018/9M 2017* | |
| Iron ore concentrate production | 616,907 | 31% | 6% | 1 676,656 | 44% |
| Iron ore concentrate sales | 631,636 | 39% | 14% | 1 678,285 | 46% |
*Interfax calculations
The K&S mine, which is located in the Jewish Autonomous District, commenced commercial production in the summer of 2016, while the company's second mine, Kuranakh in the Amur region, has been on care and maintenance since the spring of 2016.
IRC is the only iron ore miner in Russia's Far East. Gold miner Petropavlovsk plc is its biggest shareholder with 31.1%.