WARSAW, Mar 27, 2012 (Dow Jones) -- Polish copper and silver miner KGHM Polska Miedz SA (KGH.WA) expects its 2012 net profit to be 3.8 billion zlotys ($1.22 billion) on sales of PLN19.4 billion, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The company expects to earn significantly less this year than in 2011, when it posted a record net profit of PLN11.08 billion boosted by the sale of stakes in telecommunications companies, and also because this year it has to pay royalties on copper and silver extraction to the Polish government for the first time.

KGHM plans to produce 562,000 tons of electrolytic copper this year and 1,098 tons of silver, and expects the price of copper to average $8,000 a ton and the price of silver to average $30 a troy ounce.

It sees the zloty trading at 3.09 to the dollar on average, close to its present rate of 3.11.