Philex Mining declares 25% stock dividend

MANILA, Philippines - The board of Philex Mining Corp. has declared a stock dividend of 25 percent which will be presented to shareholders for approval at a special meeting on April 21.  

In a statement, Philex chairman and chief executive officer Dr. Walter W. Brown announced that the mining firm is currently drilling and developing only gold properties and copper deposits with gold values.

Brown said that with the price of gold testing the $1,000 per ounce level recently, and with copper prices remaining weak as a result of declining demand in the housing market and automobile sectors in the US and European Community, the ratio of Philex concentrate shipments of gold and copper has reversed, with the latest shipments now showing that gold accounts for 72 percent of the value of the concentrates, while copper accounts for only 28 percent.   

Since the last quarter of 2008, Brown noted that, gold values in the shipments of Philex have consistently outstripped the copper values. He said this trend is expected to remain as the world recession continues to hit the entire developed world and has begun to spill over into the developin world, Brown predicted. 

Gold, which has traditionally been regarded as a safe haven during turbulent economic times, has been testing new price highs while copper, which is very dependent on housing and automobile markets, has seen prices decline by more than half since its highs in 2008, Brown pointed out.

Thus, Philex is a good “natural hedge” against base metal prices because gold prices are expected to stay up during this financial turmoil, Brown said.

He continued that as the financial turmoil subsides, gold prices are expected to soften while copper prices will firm up as the world recovers from recession.