Champion Iron's (ASX:CIA) elevated June quarter cash costs at the Bloom Lake mine in Canada were driven by higher fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict as well as higher explosives prices, Euroz Hartleys said in a note on Thursday.

Its concentrate production of 3.5 million wet metric tonnes from the mine was 3% ahead of the investment firm's forecast of 3.4 million wet metric tonnes, while sales volume of over 3.1 million dry metric tonnes was a 7% miss against our 3.4 million dry metric tonnes.

The June quarter marked the first three months of contribution from Rana Gruber from transaction completion on April 10, reflecting less than a full quarter of operations.

The investment firm retained its buy rating on Champion Iron and placed its AU$6.80 per share price target under review.