The Bureau of Internal Revenue yesterday filed charges of tax evasion and failure to file annual tax returns against a Cebu City gold trader for failure to pay P2.57 billion in taxes.

Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Cop. said it has completed the acquisition of a 45.54 percent stake in Carmen Copper Corp. owned by a Singapore-based investment fund. Atlas recently raised $390 million in debt and equity to finance the deal. Carmen Copper is acknowledged as Southeast Asia’s largest copper mine during its peak, serving as a major backbone of Cebu in the Philippines' economy for over 50 years before a devastating typhoon and metal price slump led to the mine’s closure in 1994.