Apex Mining profits surge 408%

Apex Mining Co., Inc. reported a 408 percent surge in consolidated net income to an all-time high of P3.34 billion last year from the P657.25 million it earned in 2021.
    In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said consolidated revenues rose 39 percent to a record P10.31 billion in 2022 from the P7.41 billion posted in the previous year.
    Of total revenues, gold accounted for P9.85 billion and silver P0.46 billion. Total volume of gold sold by Apex Mining was 101,096 ounces, an increase of 28 percent; silver sold totaled 382,345 ounces, an increase of 6 percent.
    Realized prices were $1,797 an ounce (up 1 percent) for gold and $21.78 per ounce (down 11 percent) for silver.
    Apex said its expansion plans that were rolled out in 2022 generated the desired efficiencies. The two operating mines namely, Maco and Sangilo, increased their milling capacity by 11 percent or 250 tons per day and by 100 percent or 200 tpd, respectively.
    The Maco mine averaged 2,330 tpd which resulted in a total tonnage milled of 815,910 tons (higher by 15 percent year-on-year).
    Coupled with higher feed grades of gold (3.96 grams per ton) by 6 percent, the resulting gold production of 91,072 ounces and silver production of 377,729 ounces were up 23 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
    ISRI milled a total of 131,481 tons in 2022 and produced 9,270 ounces of gold and 629 ounces of silver.
    Consolidated cost of production was up 28 percent at P5.43 billion. Mill production was up 15 percent but the cost of materials and supplies only accounted for 12 percent of the increase.
    Other factors that caused the uptick include depreciation and depletion costs (6 percent), personnel cost (3 percent), and repairs and maintenance (2 percent).