The sale of equipment contributed $4.9 million to profit before tax.
“Bounty Equipment Leasing made a significant contribution to Bounty’s bottom line with the sale of equipment that the company had purchased from the US and rebuilt over the last two years,” managing director Mark Gray said.
“As a consequence, it is BEL’s intention to continue to acquire second-hand equipment from the US, rebuild and resell that equipment – taking advantage of the long delivery times from the major equipment suppliers and the unusually high demand from other mining companies.”
Bounty’s coal mining division, InCoal, contributed $17.4 million to revenue, and $1.9 million to profit before tax. During the year the division mined about 400,000 ROM tonnes with a single production unit.
While production did not meet the thin-seam specialist’s expectations in its first year, the company’s board said it had set a good foundation for 2007.
“The focus for FY07 is to continue to develop its contract book focusing on strong margins and long-term sustainable earnings. Bounty commenced a second production unit this month, and is preparing to commission its first continuous haulage system as well,” Gray said.
During the year Bounty started its first contract at Centennial Coal’s Ivanhoe mine, which has now been terminated due to poor coal quality; has commenced long-term mining at Anglo Coal’s Aquila Colliery; and has done longwall development work for Anglo’s Bundoora Colliery.
