KAZ doubles H1 copper output as new mines ramp up

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Copper and gold miner KAZ Minerals more than doubled its first half copper production to 118 000 t, paving the way for the the full-year guidance of 225 000 t to 260 000 t to be achieved.

Gold production rose from 45 000 oz in the first half of 2016 to 93 000 oz in the six months ended June 2017, the London-listed company reported on Thursday.

The strong half-year performance comes as KAZ Minerals continues to ramp up new assets, which underpinned a 27% improvement in second-quarter copper production.

KAZ said on Thursday that the sulphide plant at its Bozshakol mine would achieve its full capacity in the second half of the year and reported that the ramp up of the Aktogay mine was progressing well.

Both mines are in Kazakhstan – the Bozshakol openpit mine in Pavlodar and Aktogay in the East region.

The Boshakol mine produced 52 000 t in the first half of 2017, compared with 10 000 t in the corresponding period of 2016, while gold production increased to 63 000 oz, from 12 000 oz a year earlier.

The sulphide plant operated at 93% of its design ore throughput in the second quarter. The clay pant is still in the ramp up phase, with ore throughput at 69%i n the second quarter.

When fully ramped up, the Bozshakol mine will have an ore processing capacity of 30-million tonnes a year. The mine and processing facilities will produce an average of 100 000 t/y of copper cathode equivalent and 120 000 oz/y of gold in concentrate over the first 10 years of the operation’s 40-year mine life.

Aktogay is a large scale, openpit mine similar to Bozshakol, with a mine life of more than 50 years and average copper grades of 0.37% (oxide) and 0.33% (sulphide). Aktogay started production of copper cathode from oxide ore in December 2015 and copper in concentrate production from sulphide ore started in February this year. The sulphide concentrator will have an ore processing capacity of 25-million tonnes a year when fully ramped up. Aktogay will produce an average of 90 000 t/y of copper cathode equivalent from sulphide ore and 20 000 t/y of copper cathode from oxide ore over the first 10 years of operations.

The Aktogay mine delivered 33 000 t of copper in the half-year, compared with 5 000 t in the corresponding period. Sulphide copper production increased from 7 000 t in the first quarter to 15 000 t in the second quarter.

KAZ stated that the concentrator was ramping up faster than Bozshakol, owing to experience gained at the identical operations and the benefit of high-grade supergene ore.

The Aktogay operation is targeting production of between 65 000 t and 85 000 t for the full year.

The East Region mine, in Kazakstan, and the Bozymchak copper/gold mine in Kyrgyzstan, produced 33 000 t in the first half, which is a decrease from 41 000 t in the same period of 2016. Zinc production also decreased to 32 000 t from 40 000 t in the first half of 2016.

"I am pleased to report good progress in the ramp up of the new sulphide concentrator at Aktogay and a strong operational performance from our other assets. At Bozshakol, we expect to achieve 100% of design capacity in the second half of this year as planned. The operational performance has had a positive impact on unit costs supported by limited domestic inflation, with Aktogay and the East Region currently tracking below the guided full year cost range," said CEO Oleg Novachuk.