Philex shipments up 20% in 1st 4 months

Philex Mining Corp. reported a 20-percent growth in the value of its shipments in the first four months of the year to P4.33 billion, from P3.62 billion in the same period of 2011.

In April alone, Philex Mining completed two shipments with an estimated gross value of P2.06 billion, company president Eulalio B. Austin Jr. said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Of the total, P1.17 billion was from gold, P860 million from copper, and P23 million from silver. The estimates were based on the average provisional metal prices of $1,659 an ounce of gold, $3.75 a pound of copper, and $31.98 per ounce of silver.

The two shipments combined had a total of 10,013 dry metric tons (DMT) of concentrates. They contained about 16,614 ounces of gold, 5.38 million pounds of copper, and 16,692 ounces of silver. Both were sent to Louis Dreyfus Commodities Metals Suisse SA.

Meanwhile, Philex Mining reported that its Padcal mine delivered 711,331 DMT of ore last April, resulting in 5,319 DMT of concentrates worth P1.11 billion.

The concentrates contained 52.47 grams of gold per DMT, 24.77 percent copper, and 51.39 grams of silver per DMT. This is equivalent to 8,973 ounces of gold, 2.9 million pounds of copper and 8,788 ounces of silver.

The estimated value of the month’s output is P627 million for gold, P474 million from copper, and P12 million from silver, based on provisional metal prices.

Philex Mining posted a record first quarter revenue of P4.02 billion—4 percent higher than the P3.86 billion recorded in the same period last year on the strength of gold and copper prices in the global market.

However, lower grade and metal recoveries at the Padcal Mine in Benguet province kept core net income steady at about P1.33 billion, while reported net income was 3 percent lower at P1.27 billion from P1.31 billion last year.

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