MWILA NTAMBI,  Kitwe
KONKOLA Copper Mines (KCM) provisional liquidator Celine Nair has unveiled a plan through which the mining company envisages to spend US$17 million to conduct an annual maintenance of its Nchanga smelter in Chingola.
And Ms Nair has announced resumption of mining operations at COP F and D open pits in Chingola, as part of broader plans to improve KCM’s operations before Government finds a new investor. The mining firm has also invited a number of local and international companies to respond to a request for proposals for the selection of an investment banker that will source a strategic equity partner to guarantee, among other things, development of the US$1.1 billion Konkola Deep Mining Project (KDMP) in Chililabombwe. In a statement yesterday, Ms Nair said the maintenance of the smelter, with a capacity to produce 311,000 tonnes of ore annually, and other measures to expand production in the Konkola East operation, is meant to boost overall copper production. “There are major restoration projects that we are currently initiating in KCM such as the Chingola open pits project,” she said.
Ms Nair said initial copper ore production at COP F and D is planned at 70,000 tonnes per month by July this year before ramping up production to 120,000 tonnes in August. She said her team is looking at various ways of improving production at KCM for the company and the nation’s benefit. Ms Nair said KCM is also looking at ways to improve production at the tailings leach plant in Chingola from CLICK TO READ MORE