Philex reports

First 9 months

Philex Mining Corporation reported that its core net income dipped to 811 million in the first nine months of 2015 from 901 million in the same period last year due to depressed metal prices.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said its reported net income also declined to 756 million from 951 million while attributable net income dropped to 851 million from 1.21 billion as last year’s figures were boosted by the gain on the sale of its Pasig property in July 2014.

Meanwhile, an engineering study conducted on the mineral resource estimates identified an additional 20 million tons of ore reserves that will extend Padcal’s life of mine by two more years from 2020 to 2022.

“The validation of additional reserves in the 800-600ML is indeed a very welcome development for the Company. Aside from extending Padcal’s life-of-mine, the incremental reserves also enhance the Company’s value and provide us with more flexibility before the Silangan project comes on stream,” Philex president Eulalio B. Austin Jr. said.

With respect to the Silangan project, Silangan Mindanao and Mining Co., Inc. (SMMCI) president Yulo E. Perez said “we are currently evaluating several techniques on waste materials handling and refining our mine design that will enable us to develop the Silangan project into an efficient and environment-friendly mine operation.”

He added that “these initiatives will extend the completion of the project’s definitive feasibility study (DFS) to the first quarter of 2016 from our original projection this year.”

The Padcal mine operated for 269 days in the first nine months of 2015, the same number of days as last year, and milled 6.89 million tons of ore as against 7.16 million tons last year.

The tonnage translated to 25.7 million pounds of copper produced (9M2014: 26.8 million pounds) as copper grades were lower at 0.205 percent (9M2014: 0.215 percent).

Meanwhile, gold production reached 81,599 ounces (9M2014: 78,744 ounces) with gold grades slightly improving to 0.440 grams/ton (g/t) (9M2014: 0.438 g/t).

Revenues for the first nine months of