BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 23
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan’s KAZ Minerals has not reconsidered the 2020 production forecast despite COVID-19 global pandemic, a KAZ Minerals representative told Trend.
The KAZ Minerals 2020 production forecasts announced earlier this year said that the company was planning to extract 280,000-300,000 tons of copper in 2020. Some 120,000-130,000 tons of the sum are to account for Aktogay, 110,000-120,000 tons for Bozshakol, and 50,000 tons for East Region and Bozymchak.
In turn, gold output in 2020 is expected to be 180,000-200,000 ounces, whereas silver output is to be up to 3 million ounces, and zinc concentrate is to be 40,000 tons in 2020.
As the KAZ Minerals official said notwithstanding the fact that company took serious measures to battle COVID-19 spread among its staff the 2020 output forecasts were not revised.
Talking COVID-related changes in operations the official said that company-operated enterprises working on a rotational basis saw the biggest changes.
“To ensure the safety and health of workers and contractors, as well as to minimize the risks of contamination, measures such as restricting access to fields operating on a rotational basis, extending the period of stay on a shift (the less frequent the shift, the lower the risks) were or are being applied, testing and isolation procedures were introduced to those arriving at the ventures,” the company official said.
The official noted that these measures are constantly being updated and adjusted taking into account the situation and company’s experience as the situation is unique for each company.
“The measures taken allowed KAZ Minerals to avoid production interruptions and manage on our own, for example, when carrying out planned preventive work in conditions of inaccessibility of foreign specialists,” the official concluded.
KAZ Minerals is the largest copper producer in Kazakhstan, focused on the mining of copper and the development of new copper mining projects in Kazakhstan and Russia.
---
Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh