Consunji group buys 5.3% of Atlas Mining

DFC Holdings Inc. of the Consunji group has acquired 5.3 percent of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., according to a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Atlas told the PSE that the buy-in was completed on March 29, 2012.

Atlas welcomed the Consunji group’s entry into Atlas, noting its broad range of business interests.

The Consunji group has ventures in mining, power generation, construction and infrastructure development.

“The investment of DFC Holdings in Atlas signals a positive development for the future prospects of the company’s commercial mining operations which will benefit from the technical expertise that the Consunji group will surely bring into the fold,” said Atlas executive vice president Adrian S. Ramos.

“With that and the continuing support and leadership of the Sy family’s SM group and the Ramos group, I am confident that Atlas stakeholders will be looking forward to sharing in the fruits of the growth of the enterprise,” Ramos added.

Atlas is a diversified mining conglomerate in the Philippines.

Its wholly owned subsidiary, Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC), is the country’s largest exporter of copper concentrate.

Atlas recently announced that CCC breached $30 million in sales in March with a record production of 7.35 million pounds of copper.

CCC, which operates the Toledo mine in Cebu province, yielded 21 percent more copper in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, Atlas said.

“This surge in productivity enabled CCC to complete three shipments of copper concentrate to Chinese smelters within one calendar month and to earn a monthly revenue exceeding $30 million for the first time since the start of commercial operations in 2008,” Atlas said.

Atlas said this shows the investments made in 2011 are starting to pay off.

The listed miner wants to increase CCC’s milling capacity to around 60,000 tons per day by 2013 from the present production capacity of 40,000 tons per day.