Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) shares are storming higher today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) lithium miner and diversified resources producer closed yesterday trading for $42.38. In morning trade on Thursday, shares are changing hands for $45.86 apiece, up 8.2%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is down 0.3% at this same time.
This outperformance follows the release of Mineral Resources' September quarterly update.
Here's what's catching ASX investor interest today.
Mineral Resources shares leap on record production
Investors are snapping up Mineral Resources shares after the miner reported record quarterly iron ore production across its Onslow Iron and Pilbara Hub assets of 10.9 million wet metric tonnes (wmt).
MinRes also achieved record iron ore shipments of 11.4 million wmt.
The miner's Onslow Iron project helped drive the new records. A total of 8.6 million wmt was shipped from Onslow Iron over the three months to 30 September. That's up 50% from the June quarter, with attributable shipments of 4.9 million at a freight on boar (FOB) cost of $54 per wmt.
The upgrade of the Onslow Iron private haul road was completed in late September.
And with Onslow Iron operating at its 35 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) nameplate capacity between August and October, MinRes said it will receive the $200 million contingent payment from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.
Mineral Resources shares are also likely getting a boost from the improvement in lithium prices. The miner reported total quarterly attributable spodumene production across both its operating sites of 137,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) SC6. Sales came in at 142,000 dmt SC6.
The ASX 200 miner achieved a weighted average quarterly realised price of US$849 per dmt SC6, up 31% from the June quarter.
What else has been happening?
In the company's mining services segment, quarterly production volumes came in at 81 million tonnes, in line with the prior quarter. This was driven by the ramp-up of Onslow Iron to its nameplate capacity and partially offset by reduced volumes at Mt Marion and the miner's client sites.
And Mineral Resources shares should also be finding some support from the performance of its energy segment. The company reported that post-quarter end, its Lockyer-6 reserve and resource certification process was completed. As a result, MinRes received $41 million from Hancock Prospecting in October for the certified resource and associated drilling costs.
On the balance sheet, the ASX 200 mining stock had liquidity of $1.1 billion and net debt of $5.4 billion as at 30 September. That's in line with the 30 June balance.
Capital expenditure in the quarter was around $400 million. Management noted that's in line with guidance that FY 2026 capex of $1.1 billion would be weighted to the first half.
MinRes said it remains on track to meet FY 2026 volume and cost guidance across all its divisions
With today's intraday boost factored in, Mineral Resources shares are up 30.7% in 2025.
