Apex Mining laying off 150 workers

MANILA, Philippines – Publicly traded Apex Mining Co. Inc. is cutting costs by laying off 150 employees – including managers –out of its 1,955 workers at the Maco mine in Compostela Valley in Mindanao.

Apex said it did not expect to generate profit from Maco until 2010, when commercial operations there were set to start.

“Investigations continue into the optimum mining rate for the ore bodies and into the viability of recovering both copper and zinc concentrates. Early work suggests an annual production rate of 50,000 ounces of gold,” Apex said earlier.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Apex said it was set to conduct further explorations in a new gold vein called Sagaysagay at its main project, the Maco mine. The new vein was said to have visible free-gold, which was expected to make processing more efficient and recovery rates much higher.

Maco was formerly known as “Masara” but the name change was effected in recognition of the entire municipality where mining occurred rather than one particular village near the mine.

The company also said that its mineral output for the first three months of the year was valued at P178.8 million.

Apex said it produced P172.9 million worth of gold and P5.9 million worth of silver.

The company said it produced 4,040 ounces of gold and 9,943 ounces of silver for the quarter.

Apex said gold prices reached $861.31 a troy ounce in January, $943.21 in February, and $928.32 in March. Silver, meanwhile, was valued at $11.28 an ounce in January, $13.41 in February, and $13.19 in March.

“The gold and silver monthly rates were based on world market metal prices,” Apex said in its report.

Apex has been operating for more than 35 years but its management was recently taken over by a partnership of British miner Crew Gold Corp. and Philippine-owned company Mapula Creek Gold Corp. Inc.–Riza T. Olchondra, Philippine Daily Inquirer