Philex Padcal mines escapes wrath of Labuyo

MANILA, Philippines - Philex Mining said its copper-gold mine in Padcal, Benguet was spared from the onslaught of Typhoon Labuyo last week and the monsoon rains that followed.

“I am pleased to inform you that Padcal starts to experience good weather after four days of strong rain,” said Philex president and chief executive Eulalio Austin Jr. in a text  broadcast to company employees yesterday.

The onset of the southwest monsoon rains following the onslaught of Typhoon Labuyo over the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) caused water to overflow from the Tailings Storage Facility 3 (TSF3) but was drained into the newly-constructed open spillway.

Heavy monsoon rains over the mine started on Friday night and ended on Monday night.

“No water is going into Penstock B as we raised the level of stopboards. Water is now overflowing at the open spillway (which has) a thickness of 0.60 meter. Except for minor road slides, Padcal is doing well,” said Austin.

The government in July has allowed the company to continue operations in the mine as it continues to fill the void in its TSF3 through the production of fresh tailings.

The mine’s TSF3 suffered a leak in August 2012, leading to a massive tailings spill. The spilt sediments, however, have been determined to be non-toxic.

Philex recorded a 28 percent drop in its net income for the second quarter of the year on lower copper and gold prices.

Net income reached P551 million against P786 million in the same period in 2012.

Second-quarter gross revenues fell four percent to P3.248 billion against P3.386 billion in the same period last year.

The Padcal mine – the company’s only operating mine – produced 2.4 tons of ore during the period, up five percent from 2.3 million tons produced in the same period last year.

Produced  were 19,474 metric tons (MT) of concentrates,  up from 16,755 MT of concentrate produced in the same quarter last year.

The company said metal production was higher, with gold increasing 13 percent and copper increasing 21 percent year-on-year to 33,235 ounces and 11,244,334 pounds, respectively.

For the six months ending June 30, the company’s net income hit P954 million, down from P2.036 billion in the same period last year.

This was because the company was only able to start operations on March 8 this year after the government granted its petition for a temporary resumption of operations seven months after a massive tailings spill that occurred last year.