Meteorex Aims To Quadruple Copper Production

Diversified minerals company Metorex could quadruple copper production in the next three years as its Ruashi II mine comes into full production and new projects at Kinsenda and Musonoi are developed, CEO Charles Needham says.

By 2011, Metorex expected to produce 100 000 tons of copper a year, he said this week. There would be additional contributions to the group from growth in its cobalt, gold, platinum and fluorspar operations.

Although production would be dominated by copper in a few years , the company was interested in other commodities in sub-Saharan countries.

Metorex produces 15000 tons of copper a year from its Chibuluma mine in Zambia and 10000 tons a year of copper from the first phase of the Ruashi mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo . The second phase of Ruashi, which is ramping up, will produce 45000 tons a year of copper metal. The company is also producing 500 tons a year of cobalt from Ruashi I, and Ruashi II will produce 3500 tons of cobalt a year.

Since buying 50,3% of AIM-listed Copper Resources Corporation (CRC) this year, Metorex has begun reopening CRC’s Kinsenda underground copper mine in Congo . Kinsenda will produce 35000 tons a year of copper at full production, starting next year.

Metorex has two promising early-stage copper properties in Congo at Musonoi and Lubembe. Needham said Musonoi’s drill results indicated it would be a mine, but management was still studying costs and design.

Metorex planned to release more information about the size of the Musonoi resource at its year-end results presentation next month or sooner. If Metorex decided to proceed with a mine at Musonoi, production could start in 2011.

Metorex planned to boost fluorspar output at its Vergenoegd mine in SA to about 300000 tons a year to service the joint venture Alfluorco project, a hydrofluoric acid processing plant. Needham said the Alfluorco project was progressing through feasibility studies and environmental approvals for a Richards Bay site.Metorex’s 55%-held Pan African Resources was busy with a bankable feasibility study on developing a gold mine at Manica in Mozambique, which could start contributing in 2010 if the board gave it the go-ahead. Metorex was building a concentrator at Phoenix Platinum Mining, a new venture to process dumps for platinum, which would come on stream in 2010.

Source: Business Day, South Africa