Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., a gold and copper mining firm owned by the Sy and Ramos families, said it incurred a net loss of P1.97 billion in 2017, larger than the P879-million net loss in 2016.
Atlas said in a disclosure to the stock exchange provisions for mark-to-market losses for copper price hedges and for effective interest rates on certain loans affected the bottom line.
It said without these mark-to-market provisions, the underlying net loss would have been P745 million.
Consolidated gross revenues dropped 1 percent to P11.9 billion in 2017 from P12.07 billion in 2016 on lower gold revenues mitigated by higher copper sales.
Copper revenues improved 5 percent to P10.7 billion last year, as average copper prices increased 26 percent to $2.78 per pound while average gold prices remained stable at $1,259 an ounce.
Unit Carmen Copper Corp.’s average daily milling rate dropped 15 percent to 39,004 dry metric tons from 45,678 DMT because of unusually high level of rainfall experienced in the first quarter of 2017 which restricted mine operations.
Copper concentrates output dropped 23 percent to 134,551 DMT from 175,700 DMGT in 2016 while gold yield decreased 35 percent to 21,979 ounces from 33,958 ounces.
Operating expenses also declined 3 percent to P10.1 billion on lower costs incurred for waste stripping, materials and supplies, fuel, power, labor and smelting charges.
Atlas said the provision for mark-to-market loss represented the accounting valuation of outstanding copper price hedges as copper price increased above the hedge price at the end of the current year.
This provision changes as the copper price changes and the final variance is determined at the month of settlement.