Falling commodity prices during the December quarter has increased the payback amount by Kagara to its offtake partners as the miner delivers another period of record copper production.
In its quarterly report, Kagara said it had produced 11,828 tonnes of copper metal, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous quarter, while zinc production jumped 77 per cent to 7802t.
However dramatic falls in the copper and zinc prices dampened the company's quarter, with payables increasing by $31 million largely due to provisional pricing adjustments on copper sales due for settlement this quarter.
Over the quarter, copper revenue received fell from $US3.21 per pound to $US2.62/lb. Kagara said the lower prices resulted in the zinc cash cost increasing from US47c/lb of payable zinc to US58c/lb.
At the end of the period, Kagara's current payables stood at $83.1 million, including a provisional pricing liability of $34.5 million relating to the earlier shipments.
Cash and receivables were $43.4 million at the end of December.
Also at the end of the period, the company had 12,300t of copper hedged under forward contracts at an average of $6557 per tonne and 6000t of copper at an average of $US2943/t.
"The mark to market value of the copper forward contract as at 31 December 2008 was A$25.0 million 'in the money'," Kagara said.
This month the company realised $21 million after 12,300t of copper contracts were closed.
Shares in Kagara climbed 3.5 cents to 43.5c at 15:12 AEDT.
