Reporting Round-Up: Lynas raises, MinRes pushes at Onslow, Westgold payout and IGO’s big loss

• A host of ASX miners dropped their earnings results today
• MinRes and Lynas were among the highlights, with a host of other mining giants on the card
• See who impressed and disappointed with their FY25 numbers

It’s the busiest day of the financial reporting season, with some of the ASX’s biggest mining companies fronting investors after a rough and tumble year for commodity markets.

And it’s been a news-laden day, with cap raisings, dividends, profit hits and operational updates all on the agenda.

Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) saw an explosion in losses, powered by previously flagged impairments, but struck a positive tone on its key Onslow Iron project.

Lynas (ASX:LYC) hit up investors for $750 million in fresh equity as it targets growth despite profits leaning out to a razor thin $8m for FY25.

Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) will pay a 3c per share, $28.3 million dividend and buy back up to 5% of its own shares in the next 12 months in a “signal of confidence” amid a record gold price environment.

IGO (ASX:IGO) fell 5% on the open as its $173m underlying loss and $955m statutory loss (following a full impairment on its stake in the Kwinana lithium hydroxide factory) disappointed the street.

And there’s plenty more where that came from.

MinRes

MinRes received a bump in recent days as UBS upped both lithium price forecasts and knocked up its rating on the under-fire miner to a buy.

But its shares fell 3.6% this morning as investors digested an impairment fuelled 885% collapse to a statutory net loss after tax of $896m, with underlying net losses after tax 171% wider at $112m.

There have been myriad issues, notably bargain basement lithium prices and damage to the key haul road at MIN’s Onslow Iron project.

Things are looking up there, with MinRes hitting a 35Mtpa runrate over the four weeks to August 26 and guiding to achieve nameplate capacity this quarter, before the sealing of the haul road completes next month. That came amid reports from the AFR of a seventh, low intensity, haul truck rollover last weekend.

The balance sheet remains a key focus for analysts with net debt of $5.3bn, cash of $412m and liquidity at +$1.1bn.

Speaking on a call with media after the results were released, new chair Mal Bundey acknowledged asset sales could be looked at to help address the balance sheet, but declined to say if its large stakes in the Wodgina and Mt Marion lithium mines in WA could be moved on as part of that process.

Speculation on whether and when MD, founder and largest shareholder Chris Ellison will indeed move on after a scandal broke last year around his use of company funds continues after more equivocal language in this morning’s releases.

“I appreciate that shareholders are looking for clarity on succession planning for founder and Managing Director Chris Ellison,” Bundey said in a letter to shareholders, largely repeated in a response to media later in the day.

“My focus as Chair is on ensuring that Chris’ succession is robust and carefully planned in the best interests of our shareholders and our people. This must be a process, not an event.

“Chris remains integral to this process, working closely with the Board and myself to ensure it is conducted in an orderly, professional manner with Chris’ support.”

In the letter preceding today’s earnings calls, MD Ellison also admitted to getting the ‘lithium price wrong’, when he launched into a strategy to not only expand MinRes’ own mines but also acquire hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stakes in junior explorers.

“Looking back on the last two years, I also acknowledge that we got the lithium price wrong, and our earnings and net debt levels have been greatly impacted,” he said.

“I’ve been in the lithium business for 16 years, but I did not foresee that we’d face prices in the US$500-600/t range again in my lifetime. Our focus of late has been on cost and performance to ensure the business is set up through the cycle, and we’ve made a lot of progress.”

However, he said the “bigger picture” had not changed.

“Our approach to lithium is to optimise performance and efficiency at our world-class assets to ensure we deliver value through the cycles,” Ellison said.

Lynas

A $750m underwritten cash call stole the show on Lynas’ results day, with the 10% discounted top-up priced at $13.25 per share expected to fund the next generation of capital investments at the rare earths producer.

A new round of developments including exploration and grade uplift at Mt Weld, the search for new ionic clay feedstock, expanded heavy rare earths production, an expansion to 12,000tpa of NdPr separation capacity in Malaysia and partnerships to expand the supply chain for magnet metals outside China are all on the cards.

It came with Lynas having seen its cash pile slide from $523.8m in FY24 to $166.5m in FY25 as weak rare earths prices trimmed NPAT from $84.5m to $8m, even as revenue rose from $463.3m to $556.5m on stronger production.

Lynas boss Amanda Lacaze said the company was already seeing the benefit of the US Government’s intervention in the rare earths market via increased pricing, but that the company would not be reliant on government funding to support its projects.

“For us, the big prize on government intervention, of course, has been the increase in market pricing for rare earths and as a producer, that money is already flowing into our bank account,” she said on an earnings call.

“In terms of do we want debt from the government? You know, it has never been our preferred pathway for paying for our growth. That’s the reason why we’re doing the raise today. It’s not a reflection of government propensity to invest in Lynas. That’s clear because we are investable.”

As it ramps up though, Lacaze says Lynas is aiming to scale up production to meet demand outside the Chinese market, saying the company was working closely with its Japanese customers.

“It is not our desire to produce at maximum rates to then simply be selling that product into the Chinese market for further processing,” she said.

Lynas wasn’t the only miner heading to the market for a top-up.

Copper hopeful Cyprium Metals (ASX:CYM) collected $80m from investors and brought two major 9.9% shareholders on board including Tribeca in a bid to restart copper cathode production at its Nifty project in WA’s Paterson Province.

Tribeca was also on deck at Terra Metals (ASX:TM1), which has delivered a smorgasbord of polymetallic deposits including titanium, copper, vanadium, gold and PGEs at the Dante project in WA’s West Musgrave region.

A new $15m placement through Petra, also supported by GEAR and M Resources boss Matt Latimore, saw Tribeca follow its money into the junior explorer.

Westgold

The miner’s 3c payout was a ‘positive surprise’ according to broker Argonaut, though its shares treaded water after a few misses in the Murchison gold miner’s 2025 accounts.

Underlying earnings came in 25% below Argonaut’s expectations at $90.6m, with reported earnings after non-cash adjustments of $34.8m 59% below the broker’s estimates.

It maintained a buy rating, however, citing the higher minimum dividend (upped to 2c). WGX’s cash and bullion of $364.2m was pre-reported, rising 43% YoY, with the miner in a net cash position of $190.2m at June 30.

“WGX’s earnings result was mixed, with the weaker reported earnings impacted by higher depreciation expenses and other non-cash items,” Argonaut’s Hayden Bairstow said.

“Cash had been previously reported and the cash flow numbers were in line with our estimate. The company has enhanced its capital return to shareholders, via a combination of a higher minimum dividend and a 5% on market share buy-back.”

Also in gold land, Greatland Resources (ASX:GGP) reported a $337.93m net profit after tax in its first set of accounts since listing on the ASX.

It has $574.7m in the bank, but fell close to 5%, taking its share price hit to 23% over the past month, largely due to a late July guidance downgrade for FY26.

Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) meanwhile reported a $45.9m loss (-161% YoY), impacted by a $110.9m spend to close hedges.

Its EBITDA was 9% above Argonaut estimates at $221m (+99% YoY), with EBIT 37% higher at $78.4 (down 2% YoY).

“BGL’s earnings result was better than we had expected, although the beat was largely due to non-cash treatment of leasing agreements within the mining contract,” Bairstow said.

“The reported loss was driven by the hedge book close out. Importantly, the cash result was in line with our estimates, although the rise in total finance leases on the balance sheet were higher than we had expected.”

BGL finished the year with $151.6m (+120% YoY) in cash and bullion and a net cash position of $53.1m (-132% YoY).

West African gold miner Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) announced a 16% lift in profit after tax for FY25 to US$421.7m ($621m), with a 5c final dividend taking the +500,000ozpa producer to 7.5c for the year, a 50% lift.

It has US$826.5m (over $1.26bn) in the bank with no debt. Wowzers. Another $100m will be invested into a buyback over the next 12 months.

As an aside, there are some interesting happenings in Burkina Faso, where Perseus’ peer West African Resources (ASX:WAF) is being asked to hand over a 35% stake in its new Kiaka mine to the Burkinabe Government for “valuable paid consideration”.

The region has seen a rise in resource nationalism in recent years, especially in jurisdictions run by new military dictatorships in Burkina and Mali.

IGO

The lithium miner tripped from a $3m profit in 2024 to a $955m loss, heavily impacted by an impairment on its share in the Kwinana lithium hydroxide plant.

While tonnes almost doubled in FY25, costs remain well above the price of lithium chemicals and long run forecasts, with IGO doubtful it will ever deliver return on investment.

The $605m impairment added to a $173m underlying loss resulting from weak nickel and lithium prices, a $58m impairment on the derecognition of deferred tax assets, $3m on restructuring and $115m on impaired exploration assets.

Revenue fell 37% across the year from $841m to $528m for Kwinana, the company’s share in the Greenbushes mine and the Nova nickel mine, with the mothballed Cosmos nickel mine also costing IGO $50m in FY25.

Cosmos still has exploration value, IGO’s Ivan Vella believes, with nearby lithium and gold mines showing its mineral potential outside the Odysseus nickel mine.

But with Nova heading for closure in 2027, IGO is facing questions about growth. Exploration will be the biggest focus, with the firm keen on getting copper into its portfolio, with Vella pointing to the difficulties doing good M&A on an earnings call today.

Who else?

Among the other reporting companies, Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) elected not to pay a half-year dividend amid a continued weak nickel market, despite a big lift in half-year profit after tax from US$14m to US$25.5m. Its shares dropped 7% in early trade.

Adjusted EBITDA rose from US$155.7m in H1 2024 to US$159.3m in H1 2025, though sales revenue fell on marginally lower nickel prices.

NIC produced 66,450t of nickel metal at its nickel pig iron and HPAL plants in Indonesia.

Copper giant Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) reported a swing to a US$89.9m statutory profit for FY25 after a US$19m loss a year earlier, aided by a 12% lift in copper equivalent production.

Underlying NPAT of US$111m was above consensus at US$100m.

RBC’s Kaan Peker said operating costs for the MATSA operations in Spain were forecast higher than consensus for FY26.

On the plus side, diversified miner South32 (ASX:S32) swung from a US$203m loss in FY24 to a US$213m profit, with underlying EBITDA 7% higher at US$1.928bn despite an 8% fall in underlying revenue to US$7.610bn.

The $12.3bn miner still saw a near 6% hit to its share price despite a 71% lift in ordinary dividends to US6c, including a US$117m, US2.6c June half-year payout.

RBC’s Peker flagged higher than expected cost guidance across a number of assets as the driver of negative sentiment today.

“Forward guidance was mixed, the key negative was FY26 Worsley unit costs guidance which has increased YoY and was above our expectations. This will likely lead to FY26 consensus EPS reduction,” he told clients in a note.

“Most other FY26 guidance (cost and capex), was broadly in-line, Capex spend will remain elevated on Hermosa capex (as expected). On FY27 production, we see Sierra Gorda providing an incremental positive on higher copper volumes.

“Finally, Cannington’s revised plan resulted in lower mining rates of 1.8Mtpa (as expected) with a 5-year mine-life, with work ongoing to unlock further mine life.”

And in a late breaking release, Aeris Resources (ASX:AIS) was up close to 5% as the NSW copper miner announced a 286% lift in NPAT to $45.2m, with EBITDA up 78% to $163.7m for FY25.

Operating cash flow across its Tritton, Cracow and Mt Colin mines rose 109% to $130.9m.

It’s a big improvement on last year’s $24.3m net loss.

“Our stronger end of year balance sheet position and completion of the refinancing process now allows the business to focus on delivery of our FY26 strategy – lifting production at Tritton, extending mine lives at both Tritton and Cracow, adding value to our projects and divesting non-core assets,” Aeris chair Andre Labuschagne said.