Philippines metallic production up 8 percent in H1

MANILA, Philippines — Robust gold and nickel output pushed the value of the country’s metallic mineral production up by eight percent in the first six months of the year.

Latest data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) showed metal production in the first semester increased by 8.06 percent to P123.07 billion.

Nickel was the top contributor to the total production value, with P57.32 billion, equivalent to 46.57 percent.

Gold took the second spot with P51.22 billion or 41.62 percent, followed by copper with P12.74 billion or 10.35 percent.

Meanwhile, the consolidated value of silver, chromite, and iron ore accounted for about 1.46 percent or P1.79 billion of the total production value, the MGB data showed.

In terms of prices, gold prices went up by 3.17 percent to $1,933.95 per troy ounce from P1,874.47 per troy ounce.

Silver prices also inched up by 1.18 percent to $23.57 per troy ounce from $23.30 per troy ounce.

On the other hand, nickel and copper prices went down by 15.27 percent and 10.73 percent, respectively during the period.

Nickel prices declined to $10.98 per pound from $12.95 per pound while copper fell to $3.95 per pound from $4.43 per pound.

Nickel ore output saw an 18 percent jump in volume to 16.87 million dry metric tons from 12.01 DMT.

Ore production also rose to 3,997,829 DMT from 3,792,676 DMT.

The MGB said the top two producers during the period were Taganito Mining Corp. with 2.43 million DMT and Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. with 2.12 million DMT.

In terms of location, the top nickel producing provinces were Surigao del Sur with 3.72 million DMT, Palawan with 3.28 million DMT and Surigao del Norte with 3.2 million DMT.

For gold, production volume increased by three percent to 15,102 kilograms from 14,670 kilograms.

Philippines Gold Processing and Refining Corp. in Masbate was the top gold producer during the quarter with 3,010 kilograms valued at P10.35 billion followed by OceanaGold Phils Inc. (OGPI) with 1,828 kg valued at P6.22 billion.

The MGB said better gold prices mainly drove the yellow metal’s performance this year.

“Another positive development was the increase in the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) gold purchases volume and value by 11 percent and 21 percent, respectively, from 3,686 kilograms with an estimated value of P11.59 billion to 4,103 kilograms with an estimated value of P13.99 billion, year-on-year,” the bureau said.

White metals saw a lackluster performance as volume fell by 12 percent to 23,316 kilograms from 26,635 kg.

Government data showed the Balabag Gold-Silver Project of TVI Resource Development (Phils) Inc. in Zamboanga del Sur grew its production, but its output fell 24 percent to 8,940 kilograms.

On the other hand, copper output increased by six percent to 133,072 DMT from 125,852 DMT, mainly on higher mine production from Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC) in Cebu.

“The growth was attributed to the 17% or 11,211 increase in the mine production of Carmen Copper Corporation from 65,189 dry metric tons to 76,399 dry metric tons, year on year,” MGB said.

The other top copper miners – OceanaGold Phils Inc. (OGPI) in Nueva Vizcaya and Philex Mining Corp. (PMC) in Benguet – saw lower output by nine percent and four percent, respectively.

Iron ore production grew 17 percent to 56,131 DMT from 47,797 DMT, solely from the Bulacan mine of Ore Asia Mining & Development Corp.

Chromite production rose 20 percent to 47,449 DMT from 39,522 DMT with the good performance of Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp.