PHOTO FROM SMPC WEBSITE
Semirara Mining and Power Corp., the listed integrated energy company of DMCI Holdings Inc., is boosting its war chest for next year to prop up its energy and mining businesses.
In a statement, the Consunji-led firm said it was earmarking P5.6 billion for its capital expenditure (capex) program for 2023, an 8-percent increase from the P5.2 billion set aside for this year.
Taking the lion’s share is the coal segment of Semirara Mining with P4.1 billion, which will be used for mining equipment refleeting.
Another P1.5 billion will go to the planned maintenance activities of power units SEM Calaca Power Corp. (SCPC) and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. (SLPGC).
SCPC operates a 600-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant while SLPGC runs a 300-MW coal-fired power plant, both located in Calaca, Batangas. These facilities supply baseload, or uninterrupted power supply, for the Luzon-Visayas grid through bilateral contracts and the wholesale electricity spot market, the platform for trading electricity.
“We expect stable demand for coal and electricity next year so we’re continually investing in our production and generation capacities,” Semirara Mining president and chief operating officer Maria Cristina Gotianun said.
Of the budget earmarked for this year, P3.6 billion was already spent as of the third quarter of 2022.
Broken down, Semirara Mining poured in P2.2 billion for mining and support equipment and P1.4 billion for repair and replacement of plant components of SCPC and SLPGC.
Semirara Mining is eyeing to reach coal production of 14.5 million metric tons (MMT) for 2023, nearly the same as this year’s goal of 14.5 MMT to 15 MMT.
As of end-September, its coal output stood at 13.7 MMT, which it attributed to the controlled water seepage levels in Molave mine and better coal access in East Block 4 and South Block 5.
Higher production, coupled with higher electricity prices, lifted Semirara Mining’s nine-month profit by about 250 percent to P36 billion. INQ