AAP reported that Atlas Iron has cut its production targets for the financial year because of the impact of Tropical Cyclone Heidi.

The Pilbara focused miner reduced its forecast for the amount of iron ore it will ship in the year to June 30th 2012 to a range of 5.5 million tonnes to 5.7 million tonnes. That is down from the previous target of 6 million tonnes.

Atlas Iron said that mining, haulage and shipping were impacted by the cyclone and heavy rain earlier in January 2012. The Utah ship loading facility in Port Hedland was damaged by the cyclone, and repairs had taken longer than expected.

Atlas shipped 1.39 million tonnes of ore in the three months to December 31st 2011, down by 5% from the September quarter. That takes the amount of ore shipped by Atlas in the first half of the financial year to 2.85 million tonnes.

The company said that a crusher breakdown at Atlas Irons' Wodgina operations contributed to the weaker December 2011 quarter production. Iron ore sales in the December quarter of 1.39 million tonnes were down from 1.46 million tonnes in the September quarter.

Atlas Iron said that iron ore prices fell significantly in the December 2011 quarter due to a softening of demand from the Chinese market and a spike in supply into China.

Cash costs of production were stable in the December quarter, and remained consistent with the company's guidance of USD 42 to USD 45 per tonne for the 2011/12 financial year.

(Sourced from AAP)