I don't think you can compare their finances from 2019 to 2021 and say they Covid hasn't caused an issue, which was the point of my comment. In January 2019, the ore price was around $75/T for most of the month, before finishing at $117/T in July. That same period in 2021 was $166/T & $218/T so of course their earnings will be substantially higher, even though their unit costs have increased by 25% over that time while their tonnages have remained almost static at 327MT shipped 2019 vs expected 320-325MT shipped 2021.
However, that doesn't alter the fact they
could have made several billion more had they had sufficient staff on site. Which they have admitted they don't have, as have BHP. If
SOPS were to be believed, there
wouldn't be a labour shortage in WA as they can handle everything they need to, in-house.
Evidence across a range of industries in WA shows that to be false.
EDIT:
And NSW now has a 14-day rolling average case # below 400 being only
384 / day yet continue to be held in the "Extreme Risk" category for WA while even if the ACT records
zero cases today, they would still be above the 'magic 500' when adjusted for population, while WA keeps them in only the "Medium Risk" category. But
of course it's based on "health advice".