Chinese Copper Smelters Call for Blending Copper Concentrates at Ports

[SMM Analysis: 2026 National Day Holiday Survey on Copper Processing Enterprises' Shutdown Plans – Wire and Cable] The National Day holiday is just around the corner, and most wire and cable enterprises have completed their holiday shutdown and production plan arrangements for their workshops. SMM conducted a survey on the holiday arrangements of some copper wire and cable enterprises in the industry and compiled the results as follows...

China Mining Resources Group (Sinomine Resource Group) announced that its Kitumba copper mine project in Zambia's Central Province has commenced full-line trial production, marking the transition of the project's mining and beneficiation facilities from construction into the production ramp-up stage.​ According to the company's latest announcement, production preparations for the mining and beneficiation facilities were completed on September 21, 2026, local time in Zambia, after which full-line ore feeding officially began. Copper concentrate is being produced during the trial-production phase.​ The company said it will determine whether the copper concentrate produced during this stage will be sold externally or retained as feedstock for the project's downstream smelting facilities, taking into account copper concentrate market conditions and progress on construction of the smelting project.​ Kitumba is being developed as an integrated mining, beneficiation and smelting project in the Mumbwa area of Zambia's Central Province. The project has a designed raw ore processing capacity of 3.5 million mt/year and cathode copper capacity of 35,000 mt/year. At full production, the project is expected to produce an average of approximately 33,000 mt/year of cathode copper and 55,000 mt/year of copper concentrate.​ The project has a designed operating life of 15 years, with total copper metal production estimated at approximately 570,200 mt over the operating period.​ Construction of Kitumba's smelting facilities remains underway. Sinomine expects production preparation or trial production for the smelting facilities to be completed in Q4 2026, with formal production scheduled to begin in Q1 2027.​ The commencement of full-line trial production marks a key step in the development of the Kitumba project as its mining and beneficiation facilities enter the operational ramp-up stage. Copper concentrate produced during the initial phase could either enter the market or be retained for downstream processing, depending on market conditions and progress at the smelting facilities. Attention will now turn to the pace of the project's ramp-up and progress toward the planned start of formal smelting operations in Q1 2027.