On June 23, the third-phase project of the Yulong Copper Mine, operated by Tibet Yulong Copper Industry Co., Ltd., a controlled subsidiary of Western Mining Co., Ltd., received approval from Tibet. The production scale will increase from 19.89 million mt/year to 30 million mt/year. This project involves the renovation and expansion of a mine, utilizing open-pit mining methods, primarily producing copper concentrates, molybdenum concentrates, and electrolytic copper. The third phase plans to construct a new 11 million mt/year beneficiation plant, expand the hydrometallurgy scale from 300,000 mt/year to 1 million mt/year, and build supporting facilities such as a tailings pond. After the expansion, the mine's service life will be 23 years. The estimated total investment for the project is 4.793 billion yuan.
As of year-end 2024, the Yulong Copper Mine has ore resources totaling 830 million mt, with an average copper grade of 0.6%. In 2024, it produced 159,000 mt (metal content) of copper from mining. Upon completion and commissioning of the third-phase project, the production scale is expected to reach 30 million mt/year, with copper metal content reaching 180,000-200,000 mt/year, further increasing the company's overall copper production from mining.
