Atlas income drops 20% to P1.6 B in 6 mos

MANILA, Philippines - Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp. saw its first half profit fall 20 percent to P1.6 billion due to a change in its accounting system.

Wholly-owned unit Carmen Copper Corp., which operates the 1,675-hectare Toledo copper mine in Cebu, posted core earnings of P1.66 billion, already 72 percent of the whole of 2011.

Revenues of Carmen Copper climbed 13 percent to nearly P7 billion on the back of higher metal output from 33.87 million pounds to 45.03 million pounds.

The increase in revenues was also attributed to a higher throughput from an average rate of 37,664 tons of copper per day to 41,174 tons of copper/day as well as a higher average copper grade from 0.29 percent to 0.33 percent. Recovery rate was also higher at an average of 77 percent to 82 percent.

“The revenue growth demonstrates improved efficiencies and resilience as it was achieved notwithstanding a weaker average realized copper price of $3.66 per pound for the first semester of 2012 compared to the average realized price of $4.17 per pound during the first semester 2011,” Atlas said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Atlas executive vice-president Adrian Ramos said Carmen Copper’s expansion program is already in full swing and is tracking ahead of schedule by around 12 months.

 “With our early action on the purchase of two brand new ball mills that will boost Carmen Copper’s capacity, the planned throughput buildup from 40,000 tons of copper ore per day to 60,000 tons copper ore per day will be attained by mid-2013 instead of mid-2014 as initially projected,” Ramos said.

 Ramos said the two six-megawatt ball mills, along with complementary flotation equipment would delivered by Outotec of Finland, a global leader in minerals and metals processing technology.

 Atlas, a partnership between the group of retail tycoon Henry Sy and the Ramos family, which owns the chain of National Bookstores, recently completed a restructuring program that resulted in the full elimination of its accumulated deficit of P12.7 billion.