Atlas Mining profit drops 12% from January to September

MANILA, Philippines — Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. saw a 12 percent slide in net profits as of end-September due to low production and metal prices.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, Atlas said it recorded a net income of P3.07 billion from January to September this year.

Gross revenues slipped by nine percent from P14.65 billion to P13.31 billion.

Atlas’ wholly owned subsidiary, Carmen Copper Corp., recorded lower tonnage milled during the period, resulting in lower copper metal production from 64.09 million pounds to 54.82 million pounds this year.

In the third quarter, milling tonnage decreased by 11 percent to 12.6 million tonnes.

“The reduction in copper metal production was mainly due to inclement weather experienced during the first four months of the year and this quarter,” Atlas said.

Copper grades decreased by three percent from 0.246 percent to 0.238 percent.

Meanwhile, gold production decreased by 13 percent to 16,923 ounces due also to lower gold grades.

In terms of shipments, copper metal content of concentrate shipped declined by 12 percent to 56.9 million pounds and gold content decreased by 11 percent to 16,377 ounces.

Atlas said metal prices also remained low in the third quarter.

The price of copper shed two percent from $4.22 per pound to $4.15 per pound, but gold price inched up by one percent to $1,827 per ounce.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped by 45 percent to P4.37 billion.

Atlas also said its operating cost was adversely affected by higher energy and fuel prices, and higher waste charged to operations.

Accordingly, cash generated from operations improved, enabling the additional loan payment of $74.6 million of Atlas’ loans in the three quarters ending September.

With the partial repayment of loan, an accounting gain of P1.45 billion was recognized in the third quarter.