Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation posted a record a record net income of P3.86 billion last year, 31 times the P118 million it earned in 2020.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said stable production, resilient operation and higher metal prices sustained its turnaround performance.
Metal prices remained high throughout the year, pushing average copper price for 2021 higher by 53 percent to $4.26 per pound and gold price from $1,777 an ounce to $1,802 per ounce compared to 2020.
Atlas Mining's wholly-owned subsidiary, Carmen Copper Corporation, reported higher copper production and shipments in the second half compared to the first half of 2021 due to improvements in copper head grades and recovery.
Copper metal produced in the second half increased by 13 percent from 38.73 million pounds to 43.68 million pounds while gold produced increased by 25 percent from 11,176 ounces to 13,997 ounces.
Year-on-year, copper metal production decreased from 107.09 million pounds in 2020 to 82.41 million pounds in 2021, due mainly to the decrease in copper grades by 19 percent from 0.304 percent to 0.247 percent.
Gold production decreased year-on-year by 47 percent from 47,857 ounces to 25,173 ounces due also to lower gold grades from 8.17 grams per dry metric ton (dmt) to 5.37 grams per dmt.
Despite operational disruptions arising from high rainfall levels and typhoon Odette that affected the mining area, milling tonnage in 2020 of 50,000 tons per day or 18.3 million tons was sustained in 2021 which tempered the impact of lower grades.
Cash costs decreased by 6 percent year-on-year from P9.51 billion in 2020 to P8.95 billion in 2021, due to overall lower volumes of shipments.
"The turnaround of Atlas Mining is credited to a resilient and stable operation that was sustained over the years with a disciplined focus on safety and efficiencies. This enabled Atlas Mining to survive the market downturn and to optimize earnings in a resurgent commodities market," said Atlas Mining President Adrian Ramos.