Philex Mining profit nearly triples

MANILA, Philippines — Pangilinan-led Philex Mining Corp. reported a 186 percent jump in its core net income in the first half of the year, driven by sustained level of metal output and high metal prices.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex said core net income surged to P1.15 billion from only P402 million in the same period last year.

For the second quarter alone, core earnings grew to P610 million from P540 million a year ago.

Total revenues in the first half reached P4.75 billion, 29 percent higher than the P3.68 billion recorded in the same period last year.

“The higher revenues are due mainly to the sustained higher realized metal prices for both gold and copper at $1,807 per ounce and $4.21 per pound, respectively,” Philex said.

Philex said the satisfactory execution of the mining plan and mill operations resulted in the production of 13,612 ounces of gold and 6.435 million pounds of copper for the second quarter.

This brought total metal output in the first half to 27,025 ounces of gold and 13.205 million pounds of copper.

“The global outlook for metal prices continue to be positive and Philex is poised to benefit as we emphasize on excellent execution of plans in light of the current volatile environment brought about by this pandemic,” Philex chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

“In the next couple of months, we set to launch our Silangan project under an in-phase development approach. Silangan will be an exciting project for Philex,”he said.

The board of directors of Philex has approved the in-phase development of Silangan.  It will appoint a financial advisor to assist in the fund raising that will commence as soon as practicable.

With the in-phase development of Silangan, Philex said the capital expenditure requirement would be made in stages, and can be funded from a variety of potential resources including internally-generated cash and through equity and debt from investors and creditors.

The company is confident that Silangan development will start by the second quarter of 2022 with the target of commencing commercial operations in January 2025.

“We will be working with our financial advisor to immediately implement the fund raising activity for the in-phase development of Silangan,” said Philex president and CEO Eulalio Austin, Jr.

“We believe that the recent government pronouncements related to the mining industry will increase the level of interest and confidence of investors and lenders to mining companies. The launch of Silangan will be very timely,” he said.