Atlas Mining income soars to P3.86 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Mining firm Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. said its net income soared to P3.86 billion in 2021 from P118 million in 2020.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Atlas attributed the positive growth to stable production, resilient operational and sustained higher metal prices.

“The turnaround of Atlas Mining is credited to a resilient and stable operation that was sustained over the years with a disciplined focus on safety and efficiencies. This enabled Atlas Mining to survive the market downturn and to optimize earnings in a resurgent commodities market,” Atlas Mining president Adrian Ramos said.

Metal prices remained high throughout the year, with average copper price 53 percent higher at $4.26 per pound and average gold price increasing to $1,802 per ounce from $1,777 per ounce a year earlier.

Carmen Copper Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Mining, reported higher copper production  in the second half of the year compared to the first half due to improvements in copper head grades and recovery.

Copper metal produced in the second half increased by 13 percent to 43.68 million pounds from 38.73 million pounds while gold produced increased by 25 percent to 13,997 ounces from 11,176 ounces.

Despite the higher second half production, year-on-year copper metal production decreased to 82.41 million pounds from 107.09 million pounds in 2020 mainly due  to the decrease in copper grades by 19 percent to 0.247 percent from 0.304 percent.

Similarly, gold production decreased year-on-year by 47 percent to 25,173 ounces from 47,857 ounces also due to lower gold grades from 8.17 grams per dry metric ton (DMT) to 5.37 grams/dmt

Cash costs in 2021 decreased by six percent to P8.95 billion from P9.51 billion a  year ago due to overall lower volumes of shipments while  core income registered at P3.28 billion, higher than the P2.58 billion in 2020.