DAVAO CITY — Apex Mining Co., Inc. is aiming to increase its milling capacity for gold and silver to 3,000 tons per day within the next two to three years, almost double its daily average so far this year.
Rodulfo A. Palma, vice-president for legal services, said in a forum here earlier this week that the 3,000-ton target is the company’s maximum processing volume under its Environmental Compliance Certificate.
Mr. Palma said the higher milling throughput could be achieved by continuously developing its existing Maco mine tenements, composed of more than 2,000 hectares, in Compostela Valley.
“We are looking underground where the extensions of the mineral veins are, and we are looking at two or three years from now to increase our milling capacity to 3,000 tons per day,” he said.
In the first nine months this year, the Maco mine registered a milling throughput of 428,146 tons, or a daily average of 1,659 tons, the company said in a press statement for its third quarter performance report. This was 31% higher than 2016’s average mill throughput at 327,599 tons, or at 1,348 tons per day.
Mr. Palma also said the company is also improving the plant to further improve output capacity.
For the third quarter, Apex Mining said “a new record rate” in mill recovery was registered at 82.5% against 80.8% last year.
Meanwhile, Mr. Palma said the company continues to nurture its good relations with the communities in their mining areas, delivering social services apart from the P3 million remitted monthly as royalty share.
Apex Mining reported a consolidated net income of P305 million for the nine months of 2017, an increase of 5% from P291 million in the same period last year. — Maya M. Padillo
