Zambia Expects Copper Output to Rise 45% in 2005
2005-04-13 10:51 (New York)
By Anthony Mukwita and Nasreen Seria
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Zambia's copper production will jump
45 percent to 550,000 metric tons this year, boosted by new mines
and after producers invested in equipment, the central bank
Governor Caleb Fundanga said.
Copper output will rise from 380,000 tons last year, which
was lower than the target of 390,000 tons, Fundanga told reporters
in Lusaka today. The southern African country, the continent's
biggest copper producer, earned $1.1 billion from exports of the
commodity, he said.
The jump in output last year may have boosted Zambia into the
rankings of the world's top 10 copper producers, with its
estimated output for next year putting it behind Canada, the
eighth-biggest producer. Copper accounted for 63 percent of
Zambia's exports last year, according to figures from the
Economist Intelligence Unit.
``We are optimistic that Zambia will produce the target of
more than 550,000 metric tons of copper because most mines have
finished maintenance of vital equipment such as smelters,''
Fundanga said.
The price of copper has risen 14 percent in the last 12
months on the London Metal Exchange, trading at $3,202 a ton as of
3:48 p.m. London time.
Production will also rise with new mines, such as First
Quantum Minerals Ltd.'s Kansanshi mine, he said. Production at the
$180 million mine, located 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the
capital city, Lusaka, began last month and is expected to produce
100,000 tons of copper a year, the company said on Feb 9.
Indian copper producer Vedanta Resources Plc said yesterday
its copper output rose 89 percent in the six months through March
after the company bought 51 percent in Zambia's Konkola Copper
Mines Plc for $48 million in November.
First-quarter refined copper output fell 19 percent to 78,848
tons from a year earlier, Fundanga said in a statement distributed
at the press conference.
``The fall in production was mainly attributed to smelter
breakdowns and the need to replace aged equipment,'' he said.
``These problems have since been resolved and it is expected that
production would recover in the second quarter.''
--With reporting by Antony Sguazzin. Editor: Osborne, A. Brown,
Osborne |
