11 March 2020
Manila, Philippines

Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation (“Atlas Mining”) reported a significantly lower net loss of Php565 million for the year 2019, a 67% improvement from the Php1.72 billion net loss in 2018 as revenues increased by 21% from Php14.21 billion to Php17.13 billion on the strength of higher production and shipment volumes that tempered the impact of lower copper prices. Excluding mark to market and deferred tax provisions, the underlying earnings significantly improved also by 128% with core income reported at Php422 million in 2019 compared to a core loss of Php1.51 billion in 2018.

The significant increase in production and shipment volumes resulted from the sustained improvements and stability in the operations of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Carmen Copper Corporation. Copper metal production increased by 25% from 85.83 million pounds in 2018 to 107.24 million pounds in 2019. Gold production also increased by 40% from 27,013 ounces to 37,786 ounces in 2019. The increase in copper and gold production resulted from higher tonnage milled and higher realized grades. Milling tonnage increased by 8% from 16.25 million tonnes to 17.57 million tonnes. On the other hand, copper grades improved by 15% from 0.278% to 0.319%; and gold grade improved by 12% from 5.59 grams/dmt to 6.24 grams/dmt.

With sustained and stable production, copper concentrate shipped in the three quarters increased by 31% from 147,400 tonnes to 193,400 tonnes. Copper metal content increased by 31% to 110.25 million pounds and gold content increased by 42% to 35,374 ounces.

Copper prices in 2019 were lower year-on-year with average realized copper price at US$2.72/lb in 2019, 8% lower than US$2.96/lb in 2018; while the average realized gold price was 10% higher at US$1,394/oz in 2019 as against US$1,270/oz in 2018.

The improvement in operating efficiencies that increased throughput and realized higher grades resulted in a lower average cost per pound by 26% from US$1.86/lb in 2018 to US$1.38/lb in 2019. However, due to the higher volume of shipments, cash costs were 6% higher from Php10.43 billion to Php11.09 billion.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) settled at Php6.11 billion, 59% higher compared to Php3.85 billion in 2018 as the gains from higher revenues offset the increase in cash costs.

According to Atlas Mining President, Adrian Ramos, “We are encouraged by the improvements at Atlas Mining as consistent implementation of strategies set out over the years has proven to be effective in stabilizing and optimizing operations, We will continue to work on lowering our production costs per pound of copper to operate effectively in any copper price scenario.”