AS THE rehabilitation program of the Atlas mine in Toledo City continues, what was once referred to as a “ghost town” has become alive again.
With more than 5,000 people working, the rehabilitation of the mine is in full swing. The mine is expected to be fully rehabilitated by July this year, in time for the processing of its first copper production after more than a decade of being idle.
The mine of the Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. is now being operated by its subsidiary Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC). Singaporean company Crescent Asian Special Opportunities Portfolio put up almost 35 percent of the capital needed to reopen the copper mine in Toledo City.
Bernie Menze, executive financial manager for CCC, said the company hopes to process 20,000 tons of ore a day in July, under the first phase of the mine’s rehabilitation program.
In the second phase, the company expects to process 42,000 tons of copper a day by October next year, he added.
ICT project
Sales agreements for orders of processed copper are also subject to ongoing negotiations, he said.
“Right now, we are focused on first phase targets but preparatory work for the second phase is (also) being done,” Menze told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday during the turnover and acceptance ceremony of the mine’s information and communication technology (ICT) systems.
The ICT project is a part of the overall mine rehabilitation project, but the cost of the undertaking is reflected in the budget for the first phase, said Menze.
As of March this year, CCC allotted $133 million for the first phase of the mine’s rehabilitation.
Under CCC’s ICT program, the mine has to modernize all systems, said Tony Contreras, CCC ICT department manager.
Contreras said the company has enlisted the services of an Australian company, Pulse Mining Systems, to provide an enterprise resource planning (ERP) package—a software that integrates the company’s various organizational aspect like
accounting, human resource, inventory and purchasing.
P11 million
Through the ERP package, the company’s system will be fully computerized.
To run the ERP package, CCC availed itself of the technical expertise of Fujitsu Philippines Inc., which is also the system integrator for the mine’s ICT project. At least P11 million worth of Fujitsu and Cisco switches and servers were installed at
CCC’s temporary data center while storage administration software is provided by NetApp.
Menze said he was impressed with the support given by Fujitsu and its engineers. He described Fujitsu’s system to “turbo-charged Toyota.”
With the ICT facility in place, the ERP package was up and running yesterday.
Aside from the ICT project, CCC also included in the first phase of the rehabilitation the purchase of new equipment, infrastructure repairs, as well as safety and systems training.
As of end of March, the first phase of the rehabilitation program was 74 percent completed, Menze said.
Menze also said that 40 percent of former employees of the Atlas mine are employed in the rehabilitation program. The skills needed for the mining operations are already in place, he added.
Menze also mentioned that the company can source its skilled labor needs from Toledo City, where 35 percent of residents who are at the working age have college degrees. (DME)
