China’s Zijin Mining produced a total of 871,254mt of copper and 602,574mt of zinc in 2019, up by 27.55pc and 30.66pc, respectively, from the prior year. The state-owned mining giant expects copper output to double by 2022.
Zijin expects to produce 600,000mt of refined copper in 2020, and up to 760,000mt by 2022, while it hopes to double its mineral copper output to 740,000mt in 2022, on account of its recent acquisition of the Bor smelter in Serbia. The company also expects refined zinc output to increase to 320,000mt and mineral zinc output to increase to 420,000mt by 2022.
In 2019, Zijin produced 501,397mt of refined copper and 369,857mt of mineral copper, up by 15.4pc and 48.79pc, respectively, from a year ago. The company also produced 228,506mt of zinc ingots and 374,068mt of mineral zinc, up by 24.8pc and 34.5pc, respectively, from a year ago. The increase in output was a result of quick completion of Zijin’s Kolwezi copper-cobalt mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mine entered the ranks of large-scale copper mines with an annual output of 100,000mt.
Zijin’s refined copper output was 5pc of China’s total refined copper output in 2019, while its mineral copper output was 22.7pc of the country’s total output.