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China Nonferrous invests USD 500 million in operations at Lu
Wednesday, 13 Oct 2010
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It is reported that China nonferrous Mining Corporation has invested about USD 500 million in operations at its Luanshya unit in Zambia to boost copper production in the Southern African nation.
An estimated USD 350 million has been earmarked for the development of the ‘Greenfield' open cast Mulyashi mine with the other investment being ploughed into reviving operations at Baluba and further exploration works to increase outturn of the metal at the 66 year old Luanshya Copper Mine.
Mr Luo Tao CEO of Luanshya Copper mine said that CNFMC has invested more than USD 300 million in developing Mulyashi copper open cast mine expected to be commissioned by November 2011 and that construction of the open pit project has reached an advanced stage.
Recently Mr Sydney Chileya spokesperson of Luanshya Copper Mine said that 60% of the work at the open pit has been done with a lot of earth covering the copper ore body removed to pave way for underground mining of copper.
China Nonferrous Metals Corporation has cleared 300 million tones of top soil at its USD 350 million Mulyashi open cast mine in Zambia ahead of its planned production of copper at the unit next year.
The Chinese based miner said that 300 million tonnes representing 20% of the land had been cleared. Some concrete structures have been erected for constructing the acid and leach plants ahead of the planned commissioning of the open cast copper mine due by December 2011.
Mr Sydney Chileya said that 9 million tonnes of sand remains to be cleared and that the area being cleared has rich copper ore which the mine seeks to mine into 40,000 tonnes to 60,000 tonnes of finished copper per annum.
About 100 machines were on site including a concrete mixer which produces 60 cubic meters of concrete per hour but that with work picking up at least 10,000 tonnes of machinery would be running at Mulyashi.
He said that we have made substantial progress and we have started making the state of the art leaching plant. It would be the first of its kind in the region. The heavy Leach Plant would have an output potential of 40,000 tonnes of copper cathodes per day but only 1,100 tonnes per day would be produced.
Besides the leach plant, office blocks were under construction, a Copperbelt Energy Corporation designed 66 KV power station that would step down the power to 11 KV 200 showers as well as a laboratory storage room, fire station and clinic.
The clearing of the land was the second phase of the company’s plan to ensure production is speeded up adding that once the open pit mine was operational, CNMC would start exploration for more mines.
The open cast mine will be the first open pit to be opened by the end of next year and has seven caps of copper oxide. The seven caps translate into seven open pits at the same site that will be operational when production begins by November to December 2011.
On Baluba mine, another of CNMC units in Zambia, Mr Chileya said that about 20,000 tonnes of copper concentrates were being produced with 2,500 tonnes being mined per day. The biggest delay has been that some parts of the concentrator have been closed for routine shutdown but our normal production of twice that .
CNFMC has since accelerated the acquisition of materials for the construction of a leach plant at the open pit mine in readiness for the processing of copper ore by next year. The production capacity for Mulyashi mine has been forecast at 60,000 tonnes of copper cathodes per annum and that 1,000 employees are expected to be engaged when production starts.