Zambia's Konkola to double '09 copper output
miningweekly.com
By: Reuters
20th May 2009
LUSAKA - Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) plans to more than double output to 305 000 t of copper cathode in 2009 after launching a new business plan, the company's chairman said.
Officials said Konkola's 305 000 t planned output for this year is way above around 140 000 t of copper produced in 2008 and half of Zambia's total projected copper production of 600 000 t in 2009.
"Under the 2009-2010 business plan, KCM envisages a year's production of 305 000 t of finished copper at 100 cents a pound, down from a high of almost 300 cents a pound last October," KCM chairperson Navin Agarwal said in the firm's official newsletter received on Wednesday.
Agarwal also said the mining company planned to restart cobalt production which it stopped several years ago, with cobalt output planned at 5 000 t/y. He gave no timeline for when production was expected to resume.
Agarwal said in the latest edition of the Konkola newsletter that KCM's long term vision was to raise copper output to 500 000 t/y by 2011.
"Let's not slip up on the numbers, on volumes or cost. We must deliver what we have promised in the business plan," Agarwal said.
KCM, which operates the Nchanga smelter, Nchanga open pit, Konkola copper mines and the satellite Fitwaola mine, is a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources, which is developing the Konkola Deep Copper Project (KMDP), touted as Africa's deepest copper mine.
KCM says around $500-million will be spent on developing the KDMP, while over $300-million was spent on the constructing the new Nchanga smelter, which has a capacity to produce 300 000 t/y. It was commissioned in October 2008.
Agarwal said Vedanta's plan to complete the KDMP in 2011 was progressing well despite the global economic downturn, which had forced some mines worldwide to scale down operations or to shut.
"The unique thing about Vedanta is that all our projects are proceeding as scheduled. We are going against the wind in expansion and growth," Agarwal said.
KCM has been implementing a number of new projects including reclaiming refractory ores at Nchanga open pit to produce copper and installing a new control room system.
Copper mining is Zambia's economic mainstay and the mines are a major employer in this southern African country of 12-million people. |
