Message Mar 28 Aoû 2012 14:48

Mopani copper project to boost output

Mopani copper project to boost output
August 28, 2012
By JUDITH HARA -

MOPANI Copper Mines (MCM) Plc has made significant strides in sinking the new US$320 million synclinorium shaft at Nkana mine site in Kitwe, which is expected to extend the lifespan of the mine by a further 25 years.

The shaft is one of the biggest construction projects being undertaken by Mopani.

According to the latest Solwezi Today business magazine, the project is expected to increase ore production at Nkana Mine site from 3.4 million to about 5.1 million tonnes per annum by the year 2018 once fully operational.

The project, which had so far created more than 400 jobs during its construction phase, would safeguard about 3, 000 jobs which would have been lost without the project.

“The sinking of the synclinorium shaft involves construction of a seven-metre diameter main shaft and six metre ventilation shaft to the depth of 1,277 metres,” the statement reads in part.

The seven-metre diameter main shaft and six-metre diameter ventilation shaft would provide Mopani with access to about 115 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 1.9 per cent copper and 0.09 per cent of cobalt.

Since the privatisation of the State-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines in the late 1990s, MCM has invested more than $2 billion in mining and operating capital.

The firm currently runs mining operations in two Copperbelt towns, namely Mufulira and Kitwe and is carrying out exploration works in other parts of Zambia.

MCM has four underground mines, an open pit mine, a concentrator, leach plant and a cobalt plant in Kitwe while in Mufulira the firm owns an underground mine, two leach plants and a concentrator.
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