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| Photo of Manny (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Philex Mining Corp. (PMC) reported a 53 percent drop in net income for the first nine months of the year to P2.03 billion from the P4.35 billion recorded in the same period last year because of lower metal production in the third quarter following the suspension of the operations of its copper-gold mine in Padcal, Benguet in August.
The company’s performance from January to September was still brighter than the earlier forecast made by its chairman Manuel Pangilinan that net income for the whole of 2012 would reach only between P1.5 billion to P1.7 billion.
Core net income for the first nine months of the year was placed at P2.26 billion, down by 43 percent from P3.9 billion in the same period last year.
Total ore milled during the third quarter fell to 880,808 dry metric tons (DMT) from which the company produced 3.97 million pounds of copper, 12,616 ounces of gold and11,539 ounces of silver during the month of July.
PMC suspended the operations of the Padcal mine on Aug. 1 following the leakage of water and sediment from the broken tailings pond no. 3 of the mine.
Total ore milled during the past nine months reached 5.54 million DMT which produced 22.31 million pounds of copper, 71,297 ounces of gold, and 67,704 ounces of silver.
“Both financial and operating results for this quarter are better than what has been anticipated, given the unexpected setback in our Padcal operations. There were struggles, but I am pleased that the company responded positively to the accident. I have always believed that the more than 2,200-strong Philex employees would respond to the challenge with courage and unity – as has been the mark of our employee corps historically,” said PMC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan in the disclosure.
PMC is expected to resume the operations of its copper-gold mine in Padcal, Benguet in the middle part of 2013 as it begins the construction of a spillway for its broken tailings pond no. 3 (TP3).
Operations of the mine remain suspended until it is lifted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
PMC faces several fines for the tailings spill accident at the Padcal mine which occurred on Aug.1. This include the P1.034 billion imposed by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) for violation of Mining Act, the P50,000 penalty imposed by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) for violation of the Envrionmental Compliance Certificate contract as well as the P50,000 to P200,000 per day penalty imposed for violation of the Clean Water Act.
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