Zambia is likely to open three new mines in the North-Western province to increase its copper production to 850,000mt in 2020, according to the local media. The country produced 727,000mt of copper in Jan-Nov 2019.
One of the newly opened mines will be developed by North-Western province-based SINO Kasempa Minerals Limited (SKML). SKML announced an investment of $9.8mn to set up an underground copper mine with an annual production capacity of 300,000mt.
The other mines are located in Zambia’s copper belt spread over Ndola, Kitwe, Chingola, Mufulira, Luanshya, Kalulushi and Chililabombwe. Zambia’s North-Western province contributes 70pc of total copper production. The remaining 30pc is in the country’s copper belt.
Zambia’s copper production is likely to go up as Konkola Copper Mines, a Vedanta subsidiary targets an output of 400,000mt in the next few years.