Atlas unit to resume nickel mining operations

MANILA, Philippines - Berong Nickel Corp. (BNC), a subsidiary of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., is set to resume its nickel laterite mining operations in the next few weeks, top company officials said.

Martin Buckingham and Adrian S. Ramos, Atlas chief financial officer and vice president, respectively, said due to higher nickel prices, the company has decided to finally restart operations of its mothballed nickel mine.

According to Buckingham, a minimal $3 million would be needed to restart operations of BNC. Atlas owns 25.2 percent of BNC.

Since BNC has been under care and maintenance, Buckingham said it would take minimal cost to restart operations.

BNC is finalizing details of an off-take agreement with a Chinese group before its resumes operations, Buckingham said.

Nickel prices quoted at the London Metal Exchange (LME) went up to $11.45 per pound or $25,839 per ton yesterday.

Meanwhile, in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Atlas reported that it continued to post a net loss of P429 million for 2010, although much lower than the net loss of P2.773 billion posted in 2009.

According to Ramos, last year’s net loss was mainly due to paper losses and one-time non-recurring charges.

Atlas subsidiary Carmen Copper Corp. posted a core net income of P1.431 billion and a reported net income of P670 million. Atlas controls almost 55 percent of Carmen Copper.

Ramos said he remains confident that with improved metal prices, Atlas and its subsidiaries would finally be able to post a profit for 2011.