RTB Bor earns USD 73 million in 2017 – 43,000 tons of cathode copper, 700 kilograms of gold and 5 tons of silver produced

Calculations show that, once everything is deducted from the income realized except for amortization, RTB Bor's earning is 2017 will be seven times bigger than in 2016, amounting to USD 73 million, Director General of RTB Bor, Blagoje Spaskovski, stated on Friday, December 29, 2017.

The EBITDA of USD 73 million is a result of a an increase in the production from Bor's own mines by a fifth and a jump in the price of copper, Spaskovski told Tanjug.

According to him,18 million tons of ore was extracted, 235,000 tons of dry concentrate was produced, and 43,000 tons of cathode copper, 700 kilograms of gold and 5 tons of silver were made.

Metal processing costs are far lower compared to 2016, thanks to stable and precise operations of the new RTB foundry.

– The only Serbian producer of copper, gold and other precious metals, RTB Bor, had an income of USD 303 million in 2017, that is, 38% more than last year. This was a result of an increase in production from our own mines by 18%, but also an increase in the price of copper by a fifth. At the same time, the company's expenditures didn't grow parallel with its income and are only 9% larger than those in 2016, amounting to USD 230 million – Spaskovski said.

The price of the production of cathode copper per ton, 13% lower than in 2016, also had an impact on the company's income. The production of one ton of cathode copper cost the company USD 4,414 in 2017, whereas the cost in 2016 was USD 5,060.

The price is lower today primarily due to lower costs of metal processing, no doubt the result of the new foundry and its operations at full capacity and in line with the designed parameters.

– There are no more stop-and-start operations, which were highly damaging to the company at the time of trying to address the consequences of the fire at the Sulfuric Acid Plant in 2015, which made fixed expenses of the Foundry of USD 100,000 a day, whether it works or not, drastically worse. For this reason, the share of the metalworking sector in the structure of the price of one ton of copper produced at RTB Bor is three times bigger than that of mining – Spaskovski said.

The share of metal processing in the average price of USD 4,414 for a ton of cathode copper has been brought down by 28%, from USD 884 in 2016 to USD 631 in 2017.

At the same time, the mining sector has managed to reduce the costs by 10% and bring the price of USD 4,176 in 2016 down to USD 3,783 in 2017.

– This year in RTB Bor, 18 million tons of ore was excavated and then turned into 235,000 tons of dry concentrate through floatation processing. Through subsequent metal processing, 43,000 tons of cathode copper, 700 kilograms of gold and five tons of silver were produced. Expressed in percentages, the production of copper concentrate is higher by 10% compared to 2016, whereas the metal processing (from own raw materials) is higher by 18% – Spaskovski said, as reported by Tanjug.

No privatization, strategic partner being sought

RTB Bor will not be privatized. Instead, a good strategic partner will be sought, such as won't lay off surplus workers, but offer a good social program to those interested, Spaskovski stated.

He told Beta that he was very optimistic regarding the company's future.

Explaining why there is a tendency to privatize RTB Bor despite its successful operations, he says that the company would be the only such company in the world if it were to remain in the current ownership.

Spaskovski points out that RTB Bor has ore reserves of 1.345 billion tons, but that the company doesn't have funds to invest in the opening of new sites.

– Serbia doesn't have the money either, nor is it a global practice for states to open mines. They can take part in it and have their own share, but they are not 100% owners anywhere in the world – he said, as reported by Beta.

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