NFCA Mining Plans $25M Upgrades at Luanshya in Zambia This Year

Jan 04, 2011 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- Chinese-owned NCFA Mining is planning to spend at least $25 million on various upgrades at its Luanshya Copper Mines in Zambia in a bid to improve safety and boost output, a company official said Tuesday.

The company is planning to rehabilitate and modernize plant machinery and equipment at the mine to boost copper production, Sydney Chileya, the Luanshya Copper Mines spokesman, said.

NCFA, a unit of China Nonferrous Metals Co. (8306.HK) took over Luanshya mid-2009 and has since invested at least $60 million in various upgrades at the mine, Chileya added.

By the time the company took over the mine, most of the machinery was obsolete necessitating upgrades and replacements, he added.

Last week, the company completed a $4.5 million upgrade on the underground hoisting system at its Baluba unit. The system was commissioned in 1938 and had never been upgraded, company officials said.

The upgrades have since increased the speed of hoisting copper ore from the underground mine to eight meters per second from the previous 2.5 meters per second. The upgrades are also expected to enhance the safety of miners.

Union representatives have in the past accused Chinese-owned enterprises operating in Zambia's mining sector of violating safety and labor laws.

Luanshya Copper Mines have the capacity to produce at least 5,000 metric tons of ores a day. Last year, the mine's finished copper output was estimated to have reached 20,000 tons. NFCA announced in 2009 that it plans to increase copper output at Luanshya to 40,000 tons in the next five years.

Production at Luanshya had been halted in 2008 by former owners, Beny Steinmetz Group Resources and International Mineral Resources BV amid low global copper prices.