Mineral production shrank 11 percent in the first three quarters from a year ago, following the suspension of several mines, the government said Monday.
Data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau showed mineral production dropped to P75.93 billion in January to September from P85.47 billion registered in the same period last year.
“Poor base metal prices of nickel and copper coupled with the suspension of six nickel mines in the provinces of Palawan and Zambales led to the anemic performance of the metallic sector,” MGB said.
MGB said the value of gold production which accounted for almost half of the total value reached P33.57 billion, while direct shipping nickel ore and mixed nickel-cobalt sulfide amounted to P28.21 billion.
Value of copper production amounted to P13.32 billion, while collective values of silver, chromite and iron ore reached P840 million.
MGB said the average price of nickel in the nine-month period went down 30.65 percent to $3.95 per pound from $5.70 per pound last year, while copper prices also dropped 20.49 percent to $2.04 per pound from $2.57 per pound.
Prices of precious metals, gold and silver rose 6.49 percent and 6.36 percent, respectively during the period.
MGB said the average price of gold increased to $1,256.7 per ounce this year from $1,180.13 last year, while silver reported an average of $17.05 per ounce from $16.03 per ounce in 2015.
The Environment Department suspended the operations of six nickel mines in Zambales and Palawan. The mining operation of Ore Asia Mining and Development Corp., the lone iron ore producer operating in Bulacan province, was also suspended in August 2016.
MGB said in terms of peso value, the top five mining projects in the first nine months were the Didipio Copper Gold Project, Masbate Gold Project, Toledo Copper Operations, Padcal Copper-Gold Project and Coral Bay HPAL Project.
“ A new entrant to the production scene is Runruno Gold-Molybdenum Project of FCF Minerals Corp. located in Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya,” MGB said.
MGB said the company was the fourth financial or technical assistance agreement approved by the government in 2009.
The initial mine output of FCF which started commercial operation in June 2016 was 93 kilograms of gold and 20 kilograms of silver.
The gold mine has an estimated 18.10 million metric tons of ore reserve with an average grade of 1.93 grams/ton Au and estimated mine life of 10 years.