Zambia's Konkola extends life at key mine

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http://af.reuters.com/article/investing ... 6G20120622

Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:52am GMT

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By Chris Mfula

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) plans to extend the life at its Nchanga operation, one of its biggest mines, by more than 25 years, the company's chief executive said on Friday.

Jayekumar Janakaraj told Reuters in an interview the company, owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, would invest in modern methods to access copper from an upper ore body beyond 2013, when mining at the site would otherwise have ended.

"Right now, as we speak, we have accessed that and we are doing trial mining. We hope that by November this year we will start production," Janakaraj said.

The total cost of the project, expected to add 35,000 tonnes of copper per annum to KCM's output, is $180 million, and KCM has so far spent about $70 million, he said.

KCM produced 200,000 tonnes of copper in total in 2011/2012 and has broader plans to raise production to 400,000 tonnes annually in the next four to five years, he said.

Those plans include completion of its flagship Konkola Deep Mining Project by December this year, ramping up copper production there to 200,000 tonnes from the current 15,000 tonnes, Janakaraj said.

The company has spent close to $1 billion on that project.

Janakaraj said the group had delayed plans for an initial public offering in London because the market was extremely volatile but that KCM had not abandoned the plan.

"We have to be careful about this. There is no desperate need for money to be broadened as KCM is able to sustain its operations right now," he said.