Smelting expansion on Zambia’s cards

The capacity of Zambia’s existing three copper smelters is insufficient to process the increased volumes of concentrate produced by the country’s copper mines, even with a new 1,2 million tonne per annum smelter comes on line.

Canadian-based mining company First Quantum Minerals’ Kansanshi copper mine, in the north-west province of Zambia, has accumulated stockpiles of more than 200 000 tonnes of copper concentrate, worth about US$ 350-million dollars, which will be reduced only when the new smelter at Kansanshi starts operating later this year.

According to First Quantum CEO Matt Pascal, it is the largest single copper smelter ever built. “Even once the smelter is commissioned later this year and goes into full production during the next couple of years, there will still be too much concentrate in Zambia for the smelting capacity. As a result a new smelter expansion project is already on the cards,” he says.

Stockport Exploration exporing in Western Kenya

A Canadian firm, Stockport Exploration, is prospecting for gold in Western Kenya. The firm will be working with a service provider to procure equipment and provide managerial services, process tailings and other services. Extraction is expected to start as soon as analysis is completed; it is expected that revenue from Stockport’s operations will only be realized towards the end of the year. Stockport joins Red Rock Resources (in Migori) and African Queen Mines (in Homa Bay and Siaya) who have been operating in the region.

Migori County is also rich in copper, which has a selling price of US$700/ton. Though Kenyan companies only have exploration licences, there was a recent attempt to illegally export copper worth Kshs.120m that would have led to a huge loss in government revenue. This highlighted the need to have high-level equipment such as scanners at the Kenya Ports Authority to enable it to curtail cases of illegal exports such as this. 

Source: ICES Kenya