Atlas sees Carmen mine making P1-B net income in Q1

Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. expects its Carmen copper project to post a net income of P1 billion in the first quarter of 2011 from P164 million in the same period last year. During an meeting with investors at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City, Atlas president and CEO Alfredo Ramos on Wednesday remained bullish about Carmen’s financial results as copper prices continued to rise. “We’re optimistic that the fundamentals of copper will remain strong." Its copper shipments rose by 60 percent to 58.7 million pounds for the whole of 2010 from 36.6 million pounds in 2009, jacking up gross revenues by 96 percent to P8.851 billion from P4.519 billion. Company earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) totaled P2.564 billion, or 264 percent over its P704-million EBITDA in the 2010-2009 comparable period. The average daily milling throughput rose to 33,524 dry metric tons (DMT) from 21,864 DMT. Atlas vice president Adrian Ramos meanwhile bared the company’s plans to reopen its nickel mine in Berong, Palawan this second quarter of 2011 with nickel prices showing strength in recent months. Atlas’s Berong Nickel Corp. has remained under maintenance in the two years to 2010, incurring a net loss of P129 million against an earlier net loss of P142.4 million. — PE/VS, GMA News