Capacity expansion, output recovery to grow China’s copper concentrate output by 6.7% in 2019

SHANGHAI, Nov 29 (SMM) – Chinese miners are expected to produce 1.633 million mt in Cu content of copper concentrate in 2019, up 103,000 mt in Cu tent, or 6.7%, from 2018, SMM estimates.

Zijin Mining’s Duomaoshan copper mine is expected to commission its second phase earlier in 2019 and the technological upgrading at the first phase is coming to an end. SMM expects Duobaoshan mine to see an output growth of 25,000 mt in Cu content in 2019, being the biggest contributor to China’s output expansion next year

As a major project of Zijin Mining, Duobaoshan produced copper concentrate of 18,800 mt in Cu content in the first half of 2018, up 17% from a year earlier.

Jiama mine in Tibet, owned by China Gold International Resources, is estimated to ramp up its copper concentrate output by 10,000 mt in Cu content in 2019 after the capacity expansion of the second phase of the mining project was put into commercial production on July 1, 2018.

The full design capacity of ore processing at Jiama mine has increased to 50,000 mt per day from the previous capacity of 28,000 mt per day.

About 15,000 mt in Cu content of copper concentrate output increase would be brought by Pulang copper mine in Yunnan, owned by Yunnan Copper. The mine produced 17,700 mt in Cu content of copper concentrate in January-July, accounting for 49% of its annual production target and far below its target capacity of processing 12.5 million mt of ore per year.

The government’s intensive environmental protection drive shut some small and medium-sized mines in recent years and prompted some large mines to undertake environmentally-friendly upgrading. This accounted for the copper concentrate output decline in 2016. Output recovery from technological upgrading would help buoy 2019’s copper concentrate output in China.