Philex continues to post output drop in April

Business World Online

Posted on May 04, 2012 07:01:47 PM

PHILEX MINING Corp. continued to post an output drop last month in terms of both volume and value.

In a disclosure to the local bourse Friday, the listed miner reported that its April production was valued at P1.113 billion, down 14.2% from the P1.297 billion it posted in the same month last year.

The disclosure noted that silver was valued at $31.20 per ounce last month, lower than its $42.00 price in the same month in 2011. The price of copper also dropped to $3.87 per pound in April 2012 from $4.22 last year.

Philex Mining said that the exchange rate for April this year was P42.205 per dollar, slightly lower than the P43.108 per dollar rate in the same month last year.

As for gold, the metal was priced at $1,657 per ounce last month versus $1,407 per ounce a year ago.

Prior to this, the miner had similarly sustained year-on-year declines in its total production value for the first three months of this year.

Volumes were down as well last month. Philex Mining’s gold production declined 23.7% to 8,973 ounces (oz.) last month from the 11,763 oz. it produced in April last year.

The miner’s silver output similarly dropped 20.3% to 8,788 oz. versus the 11,027 oz. it reported in the same month in 2011.

Copper production also decreased by 6.75% to 2.9 million pounds in April from the 3.11 million pounds that Philex Mining produced in the same month last year.

The production report also noted that ore tonnage from the miner’s Padcal mine in Benguet also decreased, with the mine delivering only 711,311 dry metric tons (DMT) of ore last month versus the 768,258 DMT it had produced in the same month last year.

This ore, said Philex Mining, resulted in 5,319 DMT of concentrates this year, down from a year ago’s 5,779 DMT. 

The disclosure further showed that the firm made two shipments in April with an estimated gross value of P2.06 billion.

The two shipments collectively amounted to 10,013 dry metric tons of concentrates containing about 16,614 ounces of gold, 5.38 million pounds of copper, and 16,692 ounces of silver.

Of the total earnings from its shipments, Philex Mining gained P1.17 billion from gold, P860 million from copper and P23 million from silver, based on the average provisional metal prices of $1,659 per ounce of gold, $3.75 a pound of copper, and $31.98 per ounce of silver.

Philex Mining shares closed yesterday at P25.00 apiece, down 2.15%. -- Bettina Faye V. Roc   source