Zambia's only nickel mine, the Munali Nickel Mine, re-opened on Friday following an opening ceremony by Zambian President Rupiah Banda.
The mine was bought by China's Jinchuan Corporation last June after its previous owner, Albidon Ltd of Australia, halted operations following a fall in prices. The mine resumed operations on Friday and is expected to reach an output of 750,000 tons nickel ore in 2010.
President Banda attended a ceremony to mark the resumption at the mine, about 85 kilometers south from the Zambian capital city Lusaka and praised efforts made by Jinchuan, the largest nickel producer in Asia, in taking over the mine, which had led to unemployment for over 1,000 miners.
"I am pleased to know that the mine planned to increase the number of employees once the mine boosted its output," the president said.
The mine is planning to upgrade the mine from the current 750, 000 tons per annum of ore to 1.2 million tons of ore by 2011.
Ore production at Munali in the first two months of 2009 was 74,000 tons, below the forecast 87,000 tons, mainly due to a lack of equipment
Yang Zhiqiang, president of Jinchuan Corporation, said that Jinchuan will experience a prosperous development in Africa via combination of advanced technology from the Chinese side with the rich resources of the Zambian mine, which has proven reserves of 100,000 tons of nickel metal.
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