LISTED nickel producer Oriental Peninsula Resources Group Inc. (ORE) swung to profit during the second quarter of the year as it made its first seven shipments following the resolution of a long-running ownership dispute in 2010. 

ORE told the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that interim net income in the three months to June jumped to P280.38 million, reversing a net loss of P8.73 million in the same period last year. Revenues amounted to P506.33 million. Gross mining revenue stood at P312.91 million as production costs reached P193.42 million.

The miner did not book any revenues last year as it only started commercial operations toward the end of the first quarter of 2011.  

ORE said it sold a total of 370,603 wet metric tons of nickel ore in the second quarter to Chinese and Australian clients. 

The company’s mining interest are held through subsidiary Citinickel Mines and Development Corp., which has the right to explore and develop the Pulot and Toronto mines in Palawan. Citinickel’s claims cover 1,408 hectares in Pulot and 768 hectares in Toronto.

ORE was only able to resume mining operations after Citinickel struck a compromise agreement with Platinum Group Metals Corp., which claimed to own rights over Pulot and Toronto. The compromise deal last year involved shares of ORE in exchange for the rights to develop the two mines.

Speculation over ORE’s earnings helped propel its share price more than two times to P5.12 earlier this month since the middle of June. ORE shares slipped 0.62 percent to P4.84 each on Tuesday’s close.