Philex earnings surge on high metal prices
By James A. Loyola
Philex Mining Corporation registered a new high quarterly core net income, and ended the first nine months of the year on an encouraging note.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm reported a core net income of P865 million for the first nine months of 2020 from only P39 million in the same period last year
Core net income for the third quarter of 2020 amounted to P462 million, significantly higher than the P58 million generated for the same period last year.
“This was due to the increasing operating revenues brought about by favorable gold and copper prices despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and higher gold output mainly from higher ore grades,” Philex said.
Core net income of P462 million for the third quarter of 2020 rose ahead of the first quarter’s P103 million and the second quarter’s P300 million.
Gold output for the third quarter of 2020 at 14,804 ounces was slightly higher by 2 percent than the 14,450 ounces in the same period last year.
This was mainly due to higher ore grades despite the lower tonnage, while copper production of 6.699 million pounds was lower than the 6.851 million pounds in the third quarter last year, also due to lower tonnage.
The actual tonnage for the third quarter of 2020 of 1.985 million tons was 7 percent lower than last year’s 2.134 million tons for the same quarter.
Actual blended metal grades for gold of 0.292 g/t and copper of 0.189 percent were higher than 0.272 g/t for gold and 0.179 percent for copper for the third quarter of 2019, respectively.
Unrelenting efforts are continuously exerted to sustain higher tonnage on a year-to-date basis, and to execute the mining plan and mill operations to achieve better blended metal grades.
The actual tons milled for the third quarter 2020 was at 1.985 million, slightly higher than the first quarter’s 1.969 million tons but lower than the second quarter’s 2.002 million tons. This was mainly attributed to power outages due to adverse weather condition.
“The favorable outlook both at the global and national levels will benefit the continued operations of the Padcal mine and will likely attract interest of investors in the Silangan Project. As for the full year outlook, we expect 2020 to show substantially higher profits versus 2019,” said Philex President Eulalio B. Austin, Jr.
Source: Manila Bulletin