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

To: LoneClone who wrote (1794)	5/2/2007 9:32:25 AM
From: LoneClone	Respond to of 2131

Flooding hits output at Zambia's Mufulira copper mine Underground operations at Zambia’s Mufulira copper mine have been partially suspended due to flooding. mineweb.net Author: Reuters Posted: Wednesday , 02 May 2007 LUSAKA - Zambia's Mufulira Copper Mine has partially suspended underground copper operations due to flooding, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Mufulira district commissioner Dyford Muulwa said operations on two levels of the Mufulira mine, which is one of Zambia's oldest and largest copper units, had been suspended following floods. Muulwa told Reuters that the Mufulira mine management ceased partial mining activities at the unit of Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) after floods swept through two different levels of the underground operation. "I received a report that there is flooding at 1,357 metre level and 1,540 metre level at the Mufulira mine which forced them to suspend operations and evacuate all the miners," Muulwa said. Other mine shafts and levels at the mine were operating normally. Muulwa said Mopani had not yet indicated how much copper output they would lose as a result of production dealys caused by the floods. "They have continued to pump out water although they have not conclusively determined where the water is coming from. This has affected their production but details have yet to be released," Muulwa added. Mufulira mine is located in a region that receives above normal rainfall each year and is usually affected by floods each time there are heavy rains in this mineral-rich southern African country of 11.5 million people. MCM is a joint venture of Swiss firm Glencore International AG and Canada's First Quantum Minerals. MCM also operates the Nkana mine and Mufulira Snelter, which has a capacity to produce 850,000 tonnes of copper per year. Copper mining is Zambia's economic lifeblood and the vast copper and cobalt mines are a major employer in the country.