BC Iron managing director Morgan Ball said recent gains in the iron ore price indicate there is a short-term floor of around $US50 ($64.50) a tonne, a price at which he says the junior miner's operations have potential to be "more than break even".

Iron ore for delivery to the Chinese port of Qingdao last traded up 5.9 per cent at $US54.04 a tonne, according to the Metal Bulletin. After falling 72 per cent since January 2011, the iron ore price has climbed 15 per cent in the past three weeks.

Mr Ball said it was "too soon" to call it a recovery but it was a positive indication of pricing in the short term.

"We have seen three to four days of the price creeping up and a big jump last night which is positive so that indicates a floor in the short term of around the $US50 a tonne mark, which is a positive thing from our perspective because with the additional levers we can pull going forward, we can run a business that can be more than break even at those numbers."

BC Iron's share price shot up 40 per cent after the release of the company's March quarter results on Thursday, a gain Mr Ball attributed to the company's cost performance, the overnight increase in the iron ore price and spending cuts announced by BHP Billiton's on Wednesday.

BC Iron received an average price of $US54 a dry metric tonne for its ore during the three months to March. The miner receives a discount to the benchmark price on its lower quality product but said the discount was lower on average than the previous quarter and demand for its product in China remains strong.

BC has been working hard to cut costs in the face of the falling price, with an all-in cost of $57 a wet metric tonne during the March quarter. When adjusted to consider moisture, the exchange rate and freight, BC Iron would have been making roughly $3 to $5 a tonne.

The miner said all-in costs averaged $52 a wet metric tonne for the month of March as it continues to implement cost reduction measures. For the second half of the financial year, all-in costs are expected to be within the range of $53 to $57 a tonne.

Mr Ball said the company's Buckland project, which it inherited as part of its acquisition of Iron Ore Holdings last year, has been "ticking along".

The miner revealed on Thursday it plans to work with the joint venture owners of the neighbouring West Pilbara iron ore project to "assess potential cooperation" possibilities in regards to the mining of BC Iron's Bungaroo South deposit and the adjacent Buckland Hills deposit, owned by the API joint venture.

POSCO and American Metals & Coal International (AMCI) own 50 per cent of the West Pilbara Iron Ore project under the API joint venture, while Aurizon and China's Baosteel snared the other 50 per cent in their $1.4 billion takeover of its operator, Aquila Resources, last year.

BC said the study would assess "options to maximise both parties' mineable inventory and possible synergies in extracting ore from the deposits".

Mr Ball said the early stage assessment would determine the most economic path forward for the project, but it was too early to tell whether processing and other operational aspects could also be shared.

"This is a really good start and demonstrates the companies are working well together but we have to wait and see what it shows," he said.

"If the size of the prize is big enough, we will continue talking with them around the best way forward."

Mining services company Viento, which was recently awarded a two-year mining, crushing and screening contract at Nullagine, entered voluntary administration on Thursday.

BC Iron said it does not expect this to impact operations at the mine.