Philex shipments up 12.5% to P6 billion

MANILA, Philippines -Philex Mining Corp. reported that the value of shipment for the period January to the first week of August this year grew 12.5 percent to P6.05 billion.

Philex president Jose Ernesto C. Villaluna Jr. said its August 2, 2010 shipment amounted to 5,018 dry metric tons of concentrates containing 9,850 ounces of gold, 2.74 million pounds of copper and 9,955 ounces of silver.

Based on provisional metal prices, the estimated value of gold is P531 million, P380 million for the copper, and P8 million for the silver.

The estimated production value from the Padcal mine for the first seven months of the year rose to P6.12 billion from P5.4 billion last year on the back of higher tonnage as well as higher metal prices.

For July, the Padcal mine delivered 804,978 DMT of ore resulting in 5,108 DMT of concentrates containing 61.11 grams of gold per DMT, 24.81 percent copper, and 61.80 grams of silver per DMT.

Based on provisional metal prices of $1,169 per ounce of gold, $3.26 per pound of copper, and $17.66 per ounce of silver, at the exchange rate of P45.813 to $1.00, the estimated value of the month’s production is P964 million.

Of this, Villaluna said P538 million is from gold, P418 million is from copper, and P8 million from silver.

Philex has declared an interim cash dividend of five centavos per share worth about P245.8 million.

The Philex board of directors approved the cash bonus for all stockholders as of the record date of Aug. 18, 2010, payable on Sept. 13, 2010. The dividend is worth about a quarter of the firm’s recurrent earnings.

Philex reported a drop in its reported net income from P1.126 billion to P965 million. Earnings in the earlier period benefitted from a non-recurring gain of P330 million from currency hedging transactions.

For the medium term Philex is counting on strong prospects of its Silangan project which is driving full steam ahead.

The Silangan copper-gold mine in Surigao del Sur Province is estimated to hold much higher resources than Philex’s Padcal Mine, which has been in operation for half a century.