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Gold/Mining/Energy : Copper - analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen O who wrote (1167)	4/13/2005 12:53:42 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2131

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