Apex Mining income up 21% in first half of 2018

MANILA, Philippines — Apex Mining Co. Inc. reported a consolidated net income of P216 million in the first semester, up 21 percent from last year amid higher production output.

In a regulatory filing, Apex said revenue also increased by 21 percent to P2.4 billion, largely due to the strong performance and continued improvement of its Maco mine operations and increased production.

Mill throughput of the Maco mine reached 292,164 metric tons (MT) or an average of 1,830 MT per day.

Gold production reached 32,334 ounces, up 10 percent from the previous year.

Silver output likewise went up eight percent to 159,251 ounces.

Metal prices rose five percent to $1,309 per ounce for gold, while those of silver declined by six percent to $16 per ounce.

“We have attained Maco mine’s operating target of 1,800 MT per day. We initially aimed to reach this level by the last quarter of 2017, but the mine has not been consistent in its ore delivery given the backlog in ore development,” Apex Mining president Walter Brown said.

“We look forward to making the next step closer to our long-term objective for the Maco mine to operate at 3,000 MT per day,” he added.

Meanwhile, rehabilitation of the Sangilo mine of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Itogon-Suyoc Resources Inc., remains in progress.

A new ball mill has been installed and will undergo debugging and testing upon completion of the mine’s power station while the full blast construction of facilities and the development of underground mine will be carried out upon securing project financing.

Sourced from the Paracale gold project, the mill will augment Sangilo mine’s existing mill as a back-up and enable Apex to attain the mine’s long-term plan of operating at 3,000 MT daily.

The initial milestone target for the Sangilo mine is to obtain all the requirements for 200 MT per day production, which will eventually be increased to 400 MT per day.

The long-term objective is for an installed capacity of 1,900 MT per day within the next five years.

Total investment costs for the project is estimated to be about $110 million while financing for the Sangilo mine is currently being worked out.