Apex earmarks P1.9B for mine expansion plan

Gold mining firm Apex Mining Co. Inc. is planning a P1.9-billion mine expansion and development program for its fiscal year 2015-2016.

In a statement, Apex president Walter Brown said this was in line with the company’s commitment to ramp up its gold production and mine development projects in the coming years.

The bulk of the capital spending will be for the acquisition of property and equipment for mine development as well as for exploration activities at its Maco Gold Mine in Compostela Valley, Apex chief financial officer Renato Migriño said.

Migriño said the capital outlays would be covered by a portion of a P2.2-billion loan from BDO Unibank and internally-generated cash.

The estimated capital expenditure for the fiscal year does not include expenses for the recently-acquired Itogon Suyoc mine in Benguet which will need about P150 million to restart operations.

Recently, Apex acquired 98 percent of Itogon Suyoc Resources (ISRI) for P182.67 million or P0.007456 per share. The acquisition was paid with P32.67 million in cash and P150 million worth of shares.

ISRI has mining claims in Sangilo, Itogon, Benguet where it also owns production facilities. Apex has committed to infuse at least P238 million in new equity in ISRI to pay down its debts and reopen its mining operations.

Brown said Apex could bring the Sangilo mine to produce a small amount of ore by the end of the year. However, he estimated that it would take three to four years to bring up capacity to 1,000 tons.

“It has a very small mill. We’ll just start it up and it can mill 50 to about 70 tons. And, in over two years, we can go to 200 tons a day. It’s minimal but, when we hit about a thousand tons a day, it will become income generating,” he said.

Brown said the Sangilo mine had stopped operations because of low gold prices.