Copper output in Zambia could jump 10%, mines minister says
Zambia is close to resolving a dispute with mining companies over electricity tariffs that has dogged the industry for three years
London — Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, expects its production of the metal to jump about 10% this year to a record. The country, home to mines owned by companies including Glencore, Barrick Gold, First Quantum Minerals and Vedanta Resources, will produce about 850,000 tonnes of copper in 2017, mines minister Christopher Yaluma said in an interview in London on Tuesday. "Improved and modernised mining through the same infrastructure" will enable output to expand, he said. Production from First Quantum’s Sentinel operation will account for much of the nation’s increase, which would top a previous record of about 790,000 tons in 2013, he said. Yaluma’s estimate may be more optimistic than a forecast by Finance Minister Felix Mutati, who predicted output of more than 800,000 tonnes this year in a February interview.
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