Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines resumed mining at its Chingola “B” Mine on Thursday, 18 years after operations ceased, as Africa’s second-largest copper producing nation pushes to more than triple its annual output to 3 million tons by 2031.
The mine, part of the Nchanga mining complex, is projected to produce more than 200,000 tons of ore per month, KCM chief executive Deshnee Naidoo said in a statement.
The mine produced about 60,000 tons per month at an average grade of 2.5% between 1980 and 2003.
KCM, 79.4% owned by Vedanta Resources and 20.6% by Zambia’s state investment company ZCCM-IH, operates mines and processing plants in Chingola, Chililabombwe, Kitwe and Nampundwe.
Zambia produced 890,346 tons of copper last year, below its 1 million tons target.
(By Chris Mfula; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Peter Graff)
