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FQM to injects $400m in Kansanshi mine
By Business Reporter
FIRST Quantum Minerals (FQM) will invest US$ 390 million into Kansanshi Mine in Solwezi to raise copper production by 60 per cent per year.
Production will rise to 400 00 tonnes of copper cathodes per year from 250,000 tonnes.
The money would go into the Phases One and Two of the expansion of Kansanshi Mine, which is one of the largest single copper mines in the world.
FQM President Clive Newall said on the company website, the project was underway to expand annual copper production capacity from the current 250,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes of copper.
Mr Newall said Phase-One of the expansion project is presently underway and expected to increase annual production capacity to approximately 285,000
tonnes.
Phase-One is focused on expanding the treatment capacity of the oxide copper (from open pit) by about 20 percent to 8.5 million tonnes of copper ore (rock) and building flexibility to allow for the mixed and sulphide circuits to be switched as needed to suit mining activity.
“This phase of the expansion project has a capital budget of US$40 million and construction completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011,” Mr Newall said.
Construction of Phase-Two is expected to start in the second half of 2012 with commissioning targeted for the first half of 2014 which would see the construction of a new concentrator with a planned annual output of 25 million tonnes of ore.
As a result, Kansanshiís total annual production capacity is expected to increase to about 400,000 tonnes of copper and the capital budget for Phase-Two is expected to be in the range of $350 million.
“While we continue to advance this growth and diversification strategy, our long-term commitment to Zambia remains central in the company’s future.
“Our plans for the expansion of Kansanshi, the development of Sentinel and the construction of a new smelter at Solwezi, with a total new investment of almost $1.5 billion, demonstrate the strength of that commitment to the Government and people of Zambia,” Mr Newall said.