Iron ore miner Arrium has been selling its product at a $9 per tonne loss for the first quarter of this year.

Arrium revealed its March quarter production figures this week, which showed iron ore was costing $66.90 per tonne to mine, but selling for just $58 a tonne.

The company says it is making several moves to fix its South Australian mining operations and provide sustainable cash flow as iron ore prices keep dropping.

Arrium says it will focus on the lower cost Middleback Ranges operation and close the Southern Iron mine complex, which includes the Peculiar Knob iron project and the Buzzard and Tui DSO hematite and magnetite deposits.

But some of these moves were already planned, and Arrium says it must now find even more ways to optimise the Middleback Ranges operation in the current price environment.

Given its dire straits, some analysts have asked why Arrium is still mining.