Sat, 03 Jun 2017 12:42:40 +0000
BY Bennie MUNDANDO
THE delay by China non-ferrous metal company, Luanshya Copper Mine (LCM) to reopen the Baluba and Shaft 28 mines is a source of worry to Government, Luanshya Mayor Nathan Chanda has said.
But LCM executive director Chu Wang has assured Government that his company would do everything possible to ensure that the facility resumed its operations to contribute to the job opportunities and well-being of the people of Luanshya.
Speaking during a consultative meeting on the status of the mines with LCM senior management officials led by Mr. Wang this week, Mr. Chanda said that now that the copper prices on the world market were slowly getting back to normal, the local authority expected LCM to start firing back to life after the positive trends the world copper mining industry was currently recording.
But responding to the Mayor’s concern, Mr. Wang said LCM were not sitting idle but doing everything possible to see to it the mining company roared back to life and contribute positively to improving the well-being of Luanshya residents.
He said LCM was determined to see to it that their US $ 400 million new Mulyashi open pit mine investments expanded and stepped up its operations as a substitute for Baluba Mine, which was still under care and maintenance.
He said the mine was not fully operational due to a combination of factors such as the fluctuating copper prices on the world market, power restrictions, production capacity and quality of the grade of copper being mined which he said affected the reopening of Luanshya’s Baluba Mine.
“Our current cost of production is about US$ 7,000 per tonne but the cost of copper on the world market is now about US$5, 800,” Mr Wang said.
He also said LCM had put plans to reopen Shaft 28 underground mine whose operations had been suspended due to heavy flooding with about 100,000,000m3 of water and that reopening it would not be a profitable business venture for now.
Mr Wang, however, said management was still committed to reopening Baluba within the shortest possible time if things improved.
He said some of the general challenges the mine was facing was on maintaining its machinery as it was difficult to find spare parts for their heavy equipment while the reduction of the mine’s annual target which had reduced from 1.5 million tonnes to 1 million was another source of worry.
He also said that the volume of copper that LCM was capable of producing also depended on the global market’s copper consumption patterns.
