Thanks to lofty gold prices, Apex Mining grew H1 profit by 35%
Apex Mining Co. Inc. under the Razon Group is upbeat about increasing its profitability this year as its bottom line surged by 35 percent in the first six months of 2024.
Luis Sarmiento, Apex Mining president and CEO, said the mining company is confident about sustaining its financial performance “barring any major obstacle that may come our way.”
“Our acquisition of the Asia Alliance Mining Resources [Corp.] gives us future gold resources as the extensions of existing mine veins spill over to the adjacent tenement, giving our exploration team new ground to drill and validate,” he said.
The firm had disclosed that its Maco mine in Davao de Oro province has enough reserves and resources to sustain the targeted production rate of 3,000 tons per day until 2032
Higher gold prices and higher volume of gold sold, along with the depreciation of the Philippine peso against the US dollar, were cited as drivers of the company’s earnings growth in the January to June period.
Apex Mining said net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company had improved by 35 percent to P1.89 billion while revenues increased by 22 percent to P6.93 billion.
“The surge in realized gold price this year drove the revenues up in the first half of 2024,” the firm said.
Apex Mining sold 52,993 ounces of gold, up by 4 percent while the volume of silver sold went up by 1 percent to 176,838 ounces.
For gold, the realized price per ounce inched up by 16 percent to $2,264 per ounce while silver prices rose by 13 percent to $26.86 per ounce.
During the comparative period, the weighted average exchange rate stood at P57.27 per US dollar, depreciating by 4 percent.
The cost of production reached P3.85 billion, an increment of 13 percent, mainly due to higher tonnage processed resulting in an increase in materials consumption, power consumption and higher depreciation and depletion.
Earlier, Apex Mining reduced operations following the landslide in Maco, Davao de Oro in February. Instead, it focused on search, rescue, retrieval and relief operations.
Apex Mining said it has already stabilized the slopes surrounding ground zero and is implementing engineering interventions to further shield the mine site from rock slides and the like.
Despite this incident, the Maco mine milled 426,396 tons of ore, up by 13 percent but gold recovery was lower at 85.8 percent.
Meanwhile, its subsidiary Itogon-Suyoc Resources Inc. milled a total of 78,609 tonnes, up by 10 percent.
Apex Mining and Regina Rica Foundation, run by the Dominican Sisters of Regina Rosarii, are implementing a two-pronged assistance program called REACH Masara to implement educational assistance and holistic recovery initiatives.
“On a longer-term scale, we are finalizing the donation of a parcel of land to the Masara Municipality for their permanent relocation program,” Sarmiento said.
