SMM2 18-Philip Pascall, chairman and chief executive of first Quantum Mining, announced on Thursday that the company's Cobre Panama project in Panama is speeding up production and is expected to be an important year in 2019.

The development of Cobre Panama is nearing completion and the current focus is on the completion of construction, commissioning of process plants and expansion and commissioning of power stations.

In the fourth quarter, the pre-arrangement of the project was completed, the project and procurement were basically completed, and the earthwork of the tailings management facility was promoted by 87%.

The construction of the two power stations was completed in the fourth quarter, and the commissioning is progressing smoothly.

Pascall said that the launch of Cobre Panama, coupled with the stable production of existing mines, would lead to a significant increase in total production in 2019.

The company expects copper production at its new mine to be between 140000 and 175000 tons by 2019, bringing the total to 700000 to 735000 tons this year.

By comparison, total copper production was 606000 tons in 2018 and 574000 tons in 2017. Copper production reached 158304 tons in the fourth quarter, of which a record 60840 tons were produced at the Sentinel copper mine in Zambia.

Gold production was 185414 ounces in 2018, down from 199736 ounces in 2017.

Copper production and sales record Gold production and sales decline in 2018

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