Zambia's copper cathode production rose 17 percent to 167,185 tonnes during the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year, the central bank said on Tuesday.
Central bank deputy governor Denny Kalyalya also said the southern African country was on course to achieve the 600,000 tonnes of copper projected for this year because the industry was starting to show signs of recovery from the global economic downturn.
Data from the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) showed cobalt production slumped by over half to 600 tonnes in the first quarter of this year compared with 1,244 tonnes in the same period in 2008.
"This output (Q1) is a very encouraging development considering what has happened since the second half of last year when the mining industry suffered a severe strain due to reduced prices of copper on the world market," Kalyalya told Reuters.
Source: Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment