China's Zijin announces expansion plan for Congo copper joint venture

                     

BEIJING : China's Zijin Mining said on Wednesday its joint venture copper mine project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will spend $50 million on an upgrade that will boost both its metal producing capacity and output.

The Kamoa-Kakula project, in which Ivanhoe Mines of Canada is Zijin's main partner with 39.6 percent stake each, will increase the capacity of its concentrator plants by about a fifth as part of the plan, the Chinese company said in a filing.

Its "de-bottlenecking plan" will increase the combined design processing capacity of the concentrator plants, which process ore brought from the mine, to 9.2 million tonnes of ore per year from 7.6 million tonnes, Zijin said.

The plan will also increase the plants' annual copper output to over 450,000 tonnes compared to an earlier estimate of 400,000 tonnes, positioning Kamoa-Kakula as the world's fourth-largest copper producer, Zijin said.

"The de-bottlenecking plan ... is expected to cost approximately $50 million to modify certain pipes and equipment under continuous production. The plan is expected to take approximately 12 months to complete."

Zijin added that a third, significantly larger concentrator is being designed and is expected to be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Besides Zijin and Ivanhoe, the DRC government owns 20per cent of Kamoa-Kakula and Crystal River Global Limited owns 0.8per cent.

Investment in a $769 million smelter had been approved in November to reduce the project's reliance on third-party smelters for ore processing. The plant is expected to take three years to construct.