Atlas income drops despite higher sales

Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp.’s profit in the first half of 2012 dropped year on year even as sales grew. Company officials could not be reached for comparative figures and comments as to why higher sales did not translate to bigger income, although the firm’s statement alluded to higher expenditures for its expansion program.

Atlas reported to the Philippine Stock Exchange that its consolidated net income for the first half of 2012 reached P1.61 billion, or 20.7 percent lower than the P2.03 billion in the same period last year. Atlas did not include its consolidated revenue in its statement reporting results for the first half of 2012. The consolidated revenue it reported in the first half of 2011 was P6.738 billion, based on its disclosure last Aug. 16, 2011.

The listed firm’s wholly owned operating subsidiary, Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC), realized nearly P7 billion in revenue in the first six months of 2012, a 13-percent increase from year-ago level.

CCC’s core income reached P1.66 billion, Atlas said. Last year, CCC disclosed a net income of P1.919 billion.

Atlas attributed CCC’s higher sales to the 33-percent jump in its mining arm’s copper metal production to 45.03 million pounds during the first half of 2012 from 33.87 million pounds in the same period last year.

The output was brought about by the improved milling (to an average rate of 41,174 tons of copper ore per day from an average rate of 37,664 tons of copper ore per day; higher copper content in the ore to 0.33 percent average copper grade from 0.29 percent; and a higher recovery rate to an average of 82 percent from an average of 77 percent.

“The revenue growth demonstrates improved efficiencies and resilience as it was achieved notwithstanding a weaker average realized copper price of $3.66 per pound for the first semester of 2012 compared to the average realized price of $4.17 per pound during the first semester of 2011,” Atlas said.

Atlas executive vice president Adrian Ramos said the expansion program of CCC was in full swing and “tracking ahead of schedule” by about a year. “With our early action on the purchase of two brand-new ball mills that will boost CCC’s processing capacity, the planned throughput buildup from 40,000 tons of copper ore per day to 60,000 tons of copper ore per day will be attained by mid-2013 instead of mid-2014 as initially projected,” Ramos said.

Ramos said CCC was ready to maximize earnings from a resurgence in the price of copper.

Two six-megawatt ball mills, along with complementary flotation equipment, will soon be delivered to CCC by Outotec of Finland, which is a global leader in minerals and metals processing technology. The enhanced processing plant is expected to significantly increase copper concentrate production in 2013 and to optimize copper recoveries, Atlas said.