Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. recently filed its earnings and losses for 2017, which showed a 40 percent lower core income at P746 million and an even bigger net loss of P1.97 billion – surpassing the P879 million mark in the same period the prior year.
The company also saw a dip in revenues at P11.9 billion, citing “provisions for market to market losses for copper price hedges and for effective interest rates on certain loans affected the bottom line.”
Atlas also trimmed down its capital expenditures to $12 million as it decreased mill output due to fierce market conditions.
In terms of production, wholly-owned subsidiary Carmen Copper Corp. milled 14.24 million metric tons (MT) of ore, yielding over 78.2 million pounds of copper metal, accounting 24 percent less versus last year’s 103 million pounds.
Meanwhile, copper concentrate shipments were also down to 130,000 MT at 26 percent with a drop in copper metal content at only 75.1 million pounds and gold content following in a 41 percent slump at 19,112 ounces.
Lower tonnage of ore delivered to the processing plant in 2017 was due to the unusually frequent levels of rainfall, temporarily discontinuing mining operations during the earlier parts of the year, Atlas said.
On a lighter note, production improved in the second half at 41.58 million pounds or 14 percent increase for copper metal versus 36.6 million pounds showed in the previous year.
Prices also improved for copper at $2.78 per pound, a 26 percent surge, while gold stayed at $1,259 per ounce.
Cash costs posted two percent lower at P8.15 billion last year than P8.97 billion in 2016, whereas average cost per pound upgraded to $1.75 per pound or 25 percent increase because there was a higher waste charged to operations, lower by-product credits, and lower volume shipped.
