Zambia Chambishi Metals Gets Concentrate Supplies

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DJ Zambia Chambishi Metals Gets Concentrate Supplies, Resumes Ops
Mon. November 09, 2009; Posted: 04:00 AM

Nov 09, 2009 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex)
Zambia's largest cobalt smelter, Chambishi Metals PLC, has started to receive concentrate supplies from Congo's Katanga province, allowing it to resume operations after nearly 12 months of inactivity, an official with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

"The smelter resumed operations on Friday and they have already started producing cobalt," the ZCCM-IH official said by telephone from Lusaka, the Zambian capital. Chambishi Metals is operated by U.K.-based Enya Holdings, while ZCCM-IH holds a minority stake in the smelter.

The plant, which was closed in December last year due to plunging global metals prices, had initially been expected to resume output in May, but delayed supplies of concentrates hampered the start-up.

In addition from getting supplies from Congo, Chambishi also expected to process copper concentrates from Baluba Copper Mines, now owned by NFCA Mining, a unit of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group Co. (8306.HK). Chambishi Metals has the capacity to produce 4,000 tons of cobalt and 40,000 tons of copper a year.

Baluba is expected to start supplying the plant early next year. However, management of the plant has rejected supplies from other Zambian mines, saying they would be expensive to process because of their low grades.

Analysts say the delayed resumption of output has led to a global cobalt shortage, aiding cobalt prices on the international market.

According to Sikufela Mundia, the president of Zambia's National Union of Miners and Allied Workers Union, management has also started recruiting workers but is yet to sign a recognition deal with the unions.

Chambsihi laid off around 700 workers when it closed in December, while in total some 10,000 Zambian miners were laid off after global copper prices slumped last year. Around 2,000 miners have since been rehired as a result of a resurgent market.

Zambia is Africa's largest copper producer and the second-leading cobalt producer after Congo.

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