Floods slash Zambia's Q1 copper output - c.bank head
Fri 13 Apr 2007, 8:30 GMT
africa.reuters.com
By Haggai Chilabi
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's finished copper production declined 9.3 percent in the first quarter of 2007 due to flooding in the country's rich copper-belt region, central bank governor Caleb Fundanga said.
Copper output, which is the economic lifeblood of the southern African nation, fell to 114,239 tonnes for the three months ended March from 125,880 tonnes in the same period in 2006, Fundanga said in a press conference late on Thursday.
"The 9.3 percent downward trend between this year's first quarter and the first quarter for last year has largely been influenced by floods that negatively impacted not only on the crop production but also on the mineral output," he said.
High water levels in mines also hurt cobalt production, which fell about 20 percent to 949 tonnes in the three-month period from 1,184 tonnes in the first quarter of 2006, Fundanga added.
The reduced output could make it difficult for Zambia to meet its 2007 production target of 670,000 tonnes of copper.
Earlier this week Zambia's Chamber of Mines said that copper production would rise to that level from 501,000 tonnes in 2006 due to an increase in foreign investment that has led to improved technology in the country's copper mines.
Despite the production glitch, Zambia's government is confident that the country's copper mining sector is poised for solid growth in the coming years as it exploits newly discovered deposits.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa announced last week that copper production would roughly double to 1 million tonnes by 2011 following the discovery of additional reserves, adding that output could rise even further.
Zambia's copper mines, which were in danger of becoming obsolete in the 1990s due to neglect and a lack of investment, are the major employer and account for a large share of foreign earnings in this nation of 11.5 million people.
Most of Zambia's big copper mines are majority-owned by foreign firms, with the government holding no more than a 14-percent stake in any one venture. |
