Atlas Mining income up 32% in H1

MANILA, Philippines - Listed Atlas Mining and Development Corp. (Atlas Mining) registered a 32 percent increase in net income in the first half of the year on higher sales volume.

In a regulatory filing, the company reported a net income of P989 million, up from P750 million in the same period last year.

Increased copper, gold and nickel sales during the period pushed revenues to P8.7 billion, up 23 percent from P7.1 billion in the comparative period last year.

The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Carmen Copper Corporation reported a 21 percent production increase in the first six months of the year with 53.48 million pounds of copper metal produced, up from 44.03 million pounds produced in the same period last year.  

The ore milling capacity of the upgraded copper processing plant in Carmen Copper’s Toledo mine in Cebu was also increased to 48,149 tons daily in the first six months of the year from 42, 682 tons for the comparative period last year. Copper recovery in the facility was also improved by 84 percent.

As production increased, the total volume of copper shipments likewise rose 20 percent to 52.33 million pounds of copper metal.  

The increase in shipment volume was tempered by the decrease in the realized price of copper which dropped seven percent to an average of $3.15 per pound. The average realized price of gold, meanwhile, fell 13 percent during the period to $1, 295 per ounce.  

“Additional revenues from copper of P500 million should have been realized had the copper price remained at last year’s level,” said the company.

The  company’s first half performance also got a boost from its nickel subsidiary, Berong Nickel Corporation (BNC), which posted a 50 percent increase in production and 35 percent, shipment volume.

In July, the company announced that it is increasing its stake in the Berong nickel project in Palawan to 30 percent from 25.2 percent.  

The Berong nickel mine exports saprolite and limonite ores to customers in China and Japan for production of ferronickel, a component of stainless steel.

The Berong nickel project is currently majority owned by DMCI Mining Corporation which bought into the project in 2012.

 “The first half results show that we are starting to realize the benefits of our investments particularly in the newly-completed plant expansion project and the advance development of the higher-ore body. These give us the confidence that we can expect further improvement in production and operational efficiencies as the full potential of our expansion is attained,” said Atlas Mining executive vice president Adrian Ramos.