Philippines mineral production up 3% in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — The value of the country’s metallic mineral production from January to September last year grew by three percent on an annual basis to over P195 billion, driven by higher gold and copper sales.

The country produced P195.92 billion worth of metallic mineral during the nine-month period, more than the P189.89 billion recorded in the same period in 2023, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

Latest MGB data showed the value of gold production during the reference period rose by 19 percent to P92.66 billion from P77.92 billion.

However, the volume of gold output fell by four percent year-on-year to 22,034 kilos from 22,948 kilos, based on MGB data.

Gold accounted for 47.3 percent of the country’s total metallic mineral production during the period.

Copper concentrate production, meanwhile, expanded by more than half to P28.61 billion from P18.71 billion, MGB data showed.

Volume wise, copper concentrate output rose by 44 percent to 280,718 dry metric tons (DMT) from 195,533 DMT.

Silver production reached 39,136 kilos, nine percent over 35,788 kilos recorded in 2023. The value of silver output, meanwhile, expanded by 43 percent to P2.04 billion from P1.43 billion.

Meanwhile, the value of nickel ore production declined by 21 percent year-on-year to P42.98 billion from P54.1 billion.

The country produced 25.7 million DMT of nickel ore during the reference period, about 12 percent lower than the previous year’s 29.23 million DMT.

MGB data also showed that mixed nickel-cobalt sulfide production declined by 23 percent to P27.92 billion from P36.25 billion.

Meanwhile, chromite output expanded by 45 percent to P1.39 billion from P957.65 million while iron ore production plunged by 49 percent to P164.28 million from P323.45 million, according to the MGB.