Atlas Mining in talks with potential investors

MANILA, Philippines - Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp. (ACMDC) is holding talks with several local and foreign groups that have expressed interest to invest in the listed mining company.

ACMDC chairman Alfredo Ramos said discussions are ongoing with several entities and that an agreement is expected to be reached soon. “They want to inject funds into the company,” he said.

Ramos said the fresh equity to be infused by the prospective investors, whom he declined to name, would be used to fund the expansion of the company’s copper mine.

The mining firm reported a turnaround in the first quarter this year with a net income of P164 million, as against a loss of P393 million in the same period last year. This was attributed to the improved performance of ACMDC’s majority-owned unit, Carmen Copper Corp.

During the quarter, the Carmen copper mine in Cebu processed over 2.5 million tons of ore with production rates expected to exceed 38,000 tons per day during the third quarter this year.

Ramos said the Carmen copper mine is hoping to boost production capacity to 50,000 tons per day by the end of the year and possibly 100,000 TPD in the near future.

ACMDC registered revenues of P2.2 billion while operating net income amounted to P382 million.

Meanwhile, Berong Nickel Corp. (BNC), the nickel subsidiary of ACMDC, incurred a loss of P26 million during the quarter under review due the continued suspension of its mining operations.

BNC, however, said the market for direct shipping laterite nickel ore continues to improve and long-term customer sales in China and Japan are being vigorously pursued.

Meanwhile, a drilling program has started in the tenement areas surrounding Berong in Palawan to better define and upgrade the mineralization for future value added processing opportunities.

ACMDC completed its seventh shipment of copper concentrate for this year by Carmen Copper last May 12. A total of 5,235 wet metric tons of copper concentrate was loaded on the vessel MV Transco Star, destined for the Jinlong copper smelter in China.

The copper concentrate is estimated to contain 28.19 percent copper, 2.83 grams of gold per ton and 24.88 grams of silver per ton. The shipment has an estimated value of $9.2 million.

Since the start of commercial operations in September 2008, a total of 20 shipments of copper concentrate have been made by Carmen Copper to China, comprising in aggregate approximately 98,520 dry metric tons.