Junior iron ore miners, which were battered in late 2014 as the value of the steel-making commodity slumped to 5½-year lows, rallied strongly on Friday as the spot price for iron ore, landed in China, rose for the third consecutive session to $US71.26 a tonne.
Atlas Iron was the best-performing stock in the ASX 200, soaring 39.4 per cent to 23¢ in the wake of the spot price of iron ore recovering above the company's stated break-even point of $US68 a tonne earlier in the week.
"With the price of iron ore back above $US70 Atlas looks like it will be able to generate enough cash to stay viable and probably pull off a refinancing of its long-term debt," Hartleys head of research Trent Barnett said.
"Atlas management have done an exceptionally good job at stripping cost, but for investors the stock remains a speculative buy subject to the iron ore price."
Australia's third largest iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group rose 3.3 per cent to $2.83.