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Mining & Natural Resources
Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) operations consist of
an underground mine, concentrator and cobalt plant
at Nkana and an underground mine, concentrator,
smelter and refinery at Mufulira. The company also
has several SXEW plants (at both Nkana and Mufuli-
ra). MCM is currently in the process of expanding the
capacity of the Mufulira copper smelter and its cop-
per cathode production from its SXEW plants. The
ongoing Nkana ‘Synclinorium’ and Mufulira ‘Deep’
programs will also extend the life of the Nkana and
Mufulira mines by about 15-20 years.
First Quantum Minerals (FQM) owns the Kansan-
shi copper-gold mine in Solwezi as well as the old
Bwana Mkubwa copper mine near Ndola. Copper
production has increased at Kansanshi to reach
247,100 tonnes (cathode and concentrate) copper
for the first 3 quarters of 2010 as well as the recov-
ery of 142,800 oz’s of gold from an additional gold
circuit. Unfortunately, Bwana Mkubwa has finally
closed due to an exhausting and inability to access
high grade copper oxide ore from the Lonshi and
Frontier mines in the DRC.
Equinox Minerals Limited (EQ) operates the giant
Lumwana copper – uranium (+/- gold, cobalt and sil-
ver) mine, which was officially commissioned at the
end of 2008 and began producing in the first quar-
ter of 2009. Lumwana is the largest mining project
to come into production worldwide over the last 2
years. It will eventually be the largest open pit copper
mine in Africa and is expected to have a 37-year life.
Recent copper concentrate production is at 112,751
tonnes for the first 3 quarters of 2010 and is expect-
ed to reach 140,000 tonnes for the year. A five-year
multi million dollar agreement has been signed with
NFC Africa Mining Plc (NFC) to process its copper
concentrate at the new Chambishi Copper Smelter.
EQ recently also started mining and stock piling
high-grade uranium ore and by mid-2010 estimat-
ed they had accumulated over 4 million tonnes at
1000ppm uranium and 0.8% copper. Subject to EQ
negotiating viable long-term uranium off take agree-
ments they plan to begin construction of an on site
uranium treatment plant.
Konnoco, a 50/50 joint venture company between
African Rainbow Minerals and Vale, have recently
started construction on the US$400 million Konkola
North Copper Mine with President Banda presiding
over the official ground breaking ceremony in mid-
Oct 2010. It is hoped that the mine will be commis-
sioned within 27 months and reach full production by
2015. It has a planned design throughput of 2.5 mil-
lion tonnes of ore per year to yield 45,000 tonnes per
year of contained copper in concentrate. The mine
life is expected to be 28 years.
NFC Africa Mining Plc (NFC) is majority owned by
China Non Ferrous Metal Mining Group Company
(CNMC) and owns and operates the Chambishi
mine. NFC has recently undertaken a US$100 mil-
lion expansion programme and now plans to exploit
ore from the ‘western’ ore body. CNMC is also the
majority shareholder of the new US$300 million
Chambishi Copper Smelter. The smelter has a
planned capacity to process 400,000 tonnes of cop-
per concentrate per year with a planned output of
150,000 tonnes of copper.
NFC also acquired a controlling stake in Luanshya
Copper Mines (LCM) in July 2009 and now owns
and operates the reopened and refurbished Baluba
copper and cobalt mine as well as Chambishi Metals
Plc. LCM is Zambia’s largest cobalt producer.
Metorex Limited is the owner of the Chibuluma South
mine. This originally started life as an open pit mine
but has since gone underground. Chibuluma milled
568,187 tonnes of ore in 2009 at a grade of 3.1%
copper. Ore is treated at the Chibuluma concentra-
tor and all copper concentrates are currently sold to
CNMC’s new Chambishi Copper Smelter. Metorex
are presently embarking on both an intensive sur-
face and underground exploration programme with a
view to increasing the current life of the mine beyond
the next 6 years.
Albidon Zambia Limited operates the underground
Munali nickel / copper mine near Mazabuka in the
Southern Province of Zambia. The mine reopened
in early 2010 after being placed on care and mainte-
nance for most of 2009. In the first 3 quarters of 2010
a total of 488,205 tonnes of nickel ore were mined
and 27,266 tonnes of nickel concentrate was sold.
Exploration Drilling