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Work on $2 billion Kalumbila minerals, a subsidiary of Toronto listed miner, First Quantum Minerals Limited, situated in Solwezi, is progressing well with the miner seeking to connect to the national grid by December this year.
The mine, lying 140 kilometres west of Solwezi, which will embrace a US$680 million smelter to process the copper ore, has reached an advanced stage with the developers forecasting it to begin operations by early 2015 after finalizing energy formalities with service providers, says its country manager, General Kingsley Chinkuli.
“The project is massive……we have done a lot of work on the project and we are looking at connecting the power to the mine project by December as we finalise the project which we hope will start operations by 2015,” Chinkuli said on the side-lines of the Mining and energy conference in Lusaka.
He could not state how much power the project will need to sustain operations apart from saying the success of the mining venture will depend on the reliability of power supply to the mine, a Greenfield mining project seen in Zambia in recent months.
FIRST Quantum Minerals Limited (FQM) expects to employ 2,000 people once it starts production at Kalumbila mine by the year 2015, the Lusaka Times reported citing company spokesperson, Godfrey Msiska.
A further 500 more are expected to be employed with mining giant once the smelter is opened at Kansanshi mine in Solwezi by the year 2015.Msiska said once Kalumbila mine goes into production, by 2015, the Copper mine is expected to increase output arising from the expansions at Kansanshi mine, the online publication recently cited Msiska as saying.
FQM envisages to ramp up its copper production to 700,000 mtpa by 2015 with the completion of Sentinel Mine and increased output arising from expansions at Kansanshi Mine.
FQM is the largest Copper producer in Africa and it has boosted the Zambian enterprise by spending more than US$ 1 billion through the supply of contracts to Zambian companies in sourcing goods and services from local suppliers and constructors.First Quantum Minerals Limited is optimistic that the 500 job earmarked for downsizing at the under- construction Sentinel mine can be saved, ZANIS recently cited Msiska as saying.
FQM has acquired Inmet, a Canadian based mining company that produces Copper and Zinc and that the mining company successfully completed the offer of 92.74% of Inmet shares tendered.“As FQM we want to say that shareholders who tendered their shares between March 12 and April 1, 2013 and elected the cash alternative will receive $36.00 in cash and 1.6484 common shares,” according to ZANIS. Inmet has three wholly-owned mining operations in Cayeli (Turkey), Pyliasami (Finland) and Las Cruces (Spain).
