Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation almost tripled its net income to a new record of P1.22 billion for the first quarter of 2022 from the P420 million for the same period last year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said higher production and higher metal prices sustained its strong performance.
“With sustained production, Atlas Mining continues to benefit from a strong metals market. We remain focused on keeping our operations resilient and efficient to ensure sustained and optimized earnings even under emerging challenging situations,” said Atlas Mining President Adrian Ramos.
The increase in metal prices continued in the first quarter this year where copper price increased by 16 percent from $3.93 per pound to $4.56 a pound and gold price from $1,797 an ounce to $1,885 per ounce compared to the same period last year.
Atlas Mining’s wholly-owned subsidiary Carmen Copper Corporation reported higher copper production and shipments in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period last year due to higher tons of ore milled and higher realized grades.
In the first quarter of 2022, copper metal production increased by 26 percent from 15.93 million pounds to 20.01 million pounds, due mainly to the 8 percent increase in milling tonnage from 4.22 million tons to 4.57 million tons and the increase in copper grades by 12 percent from 0.215 percent to 0.241 percent.
Gold production increased quarter-on-quarter by 22 percent from 5,346 ounces to 6,015 ounces while gold grades decreased from 5.77 grams per dry metric ton (dmt) to 5.34 grams per dmt.
Accordingly, shipments were higher by 27 percent from 17.02 million pounds of copper metal in 2021 to 21.69 million pounds in 2022.
Higher production and shipments supported by higher prices, pushed revenues to soar by 54 percent to P5.49 billion from P3.57 billion.
Cash costs increased by 50 percent from P1.97 billion to P2.94 billion, due to the increase in volume of shipments and production.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was P2.60 billion, 55 percent higher compared to P1.68 billion in the same period of 2021.
Core income was P992 million in the first quarter of 2022 compared to P579 million, 71 percent higher compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Cash generated from operations enabled additional repayment of debt of $45 million in the first quarter. With the partial repayment of certain loan, an accounting gain of P464 million was recognized in the first quarter.