[www.ferro-alloys.com]Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AU) is up more than 5% in early Sydney trading after unveiling its June quarter production results, which underlined the miner’s impressive efforts to drive down costs in an environment of low iron ore prices.

It was the tenth successive quarter that the world’s fourth largest iron ore miner has delivered lower costs of production – costs were just above $14 a tonne in the June quarter – and the Perth-based company said that it was targeting a production cost of between $12 and $13 tonne in the 2017 financial year. The miner is targeting shipments of between 165 million tonnes and 170 million tonnes in the 2017 financial year.

Fortescue shares have rallied an impressive 132% this year as the rebound in iron ore prices has boosted the company’s cash flows and allowed it to pay down $2.9 billion of debt in the 2016 financial year. Iron ore prices have rallied 33% this year, though at around $58 a tonne the steel making ingredient is down from the $70 a tonne it was fetching in April.

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• [Editor:tianyawei]