DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Zambian copper production in the first nine months of the year increased by 10.7% on year as copper mines recovered from operational disruptions suffered earlier in the year, a government official told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.
An official with the ministry of mines and mineral development said central bank data indicates that Zambian mines produced a total of 421,519 metric tons of copper between January and September, compared with 380,907 tons in the same period last year.
Copper mines were hit by a nationwide power failure in January, which hurt mining operations. The mines have since acquired more fuel-fired generators.
The central Bank is expected to release a detailed report on the sector later Wednesday, he said.
Zambia remains on course to double its output in the medium term despite the turmoil in the global copper market because most investments in the sector were undertaken before the current global financial crisis, said Razia Khan, head of research at Standard Chartered Bank.
Among the projects are the $762 million Lumwana Copper mine, owned by Equinox Minerals Ltd. (EQN.T), the $400 million Konkola Deep Mine project at Konkola Copper Mines and expansions at Kansanshi Copper Mines. KCM is majority-owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc (VED.LN) while Kansanshi is owned by First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.T).
Zambia's annual copper output is expected to hit 1 million metric tons by 2010. In 2007 the country produced around 520,000 tons of copper.
-By Nicholas Bariyo, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; +256-75-2624615; bariyonic@yahoo.co.uk
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 19, 2008 08:57 ET (13:57 GMT)

Publié le 19 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones