The Prominent Hill mine in South Australia produced 32,636 tonnes of copper and 31,547 ounces of gold in the December quarter, at C1 cash costs of just US67.2c per pound.

Open pit unit mining costs of $A5.70 per tonne fell within guidance.

The company is still eyeing further cost reductions and last week announced 100 job cuts due to reduced waste movement requirements in the pit.

Around $5 million of annualised cost savings have already been realised by OZ, but initiatives are ongoing, like a review of suppliers.

The December quarter result took full-year copper production to a record 130,305t at US70.1c/lb, almost beating guidance of 126,000-131,000t at 70-80c/lb.

UBS had predicted quarterly output of 28,900t copper at 79c/lb for full-year production of just under 127,000t but suggested the company could beat forecasts.

OZ CEO Andrew Cole said he was proud of the result.

“We’ve had a record year of production and even with the current state of commodity prices, Prominent Hill is generating very significant cashflows with healthy margins,” he said.

As a result, OZ’s cash balance surged by $A334 million over 2015 to $553 million at the end of December.

The company remains debt-free.

It puts OZ in a strong position to look for new opportunities, an area which it is very active.

“It’s pretty evident the market is getting more difficult,” Cole said.

He noted the large companies and assets had been hanging on, but time would start to run out for some due to low commodity prices and heavy debt loads.

OZ inked three exploration joint ventures with small companies over the quarter, but Cole said the company was looking right through the pipeline of assets for opportunities.

The company said a “range of due diligence” studies were underway.

Shares in OZ jumped nearly 7% to $3.74 after reaching as high as $3.82 in earlier trade.