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Muliashi Mine revival on cards
CHINA Non-Ferrous Metals Corporation (CNMC) will this year embark on the development of Muliashi Copper Mine in Luanshya after approving a feasibility study, company spokesperson Sydney Chileya has said.
Mr Chileya said results of the two feasibility studies were positive with the Muliashi project’s ore whose lifespan was estimated between 15 and 25 years.
Muliashi Mine , which was scheduled to start operating in 2010 before its previous owners suspended the project, would now commence production in 2012 with output expected to be around 60,000 tonnes of copper per year.
“CNMC is happy with the design and construction plans for the Muliashi project and actual building of the open pit mine will start before the end of this year,” Mr Chileya said.
The project cost was still estimated at US$300 million and the commencement of mining and treatment of copper concentrates would start in early 2012.
According to Reuters, the Muliashi mine was expected to employ about 1,000 people.
CNMC bought the Muliashi assets together with Baluba Copper Mine at $50 million from Luanshya Copper Mine (LCM), which was previously majority owned by Enya Holdings of the United Kingdom.
Enya Holdings at the height of the global financial crisis in December 2008, shut down the Baluba mine, one of the southern African country’s oldest copper producers.
CNMC took over the running of the mine in May 2009.
Baluba Mine resumed output in December after modernising the copper processing plant at a cost of $70 million.
The company plans to raise finished copper production to 30,000 tonnes per year from the 21,000 tonnes the mine produced before it was shut down.