BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar. 30
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Copper was 13,855 tons cathode output at Kazakhstan-based Kounrad mine developed by Central Asia Metals company, Trend reports citing the company.
The company noted that Kounrad copper cash cost was $0.51 per pound in 2020 compared to $0.52 per pound in 2019. The company’s copper production was 13,855 tons, which indicates a slight increase compared to 13,771 tons in 2019.
“Our Kounrad operations continued to perform well, delivering copper cathode output within the increased production guidance range of 13,855 tons. Kounrad's 2020 copper cash cost of production remained extremely low by global standards at $0.51 per pound,” the company said.
“During the year at Kounrad, leaching operations performed well, as did the SX-EW processing facilities which achieved availability of over 99 percent. We continued to develop more of the Western Dumps for future leaching operations while focusing on maximizing copper extraction in the Eastern Dumps. Capital expenditure remained very low at $1.3 million, comprising some replacement anodes, plus increasing our footprint of leaching infrastructure and collector trenches around the Western Dumps,” the company said.
The company also noted it reached two significant milestones in 2020. In April, we produced our 100,000 tons of copper cathode from Kounrad.
“This achievement was made possible due to the long-term dedication of General Director, Pavel Semenchenko, and his team, as well as Technical Director, Howard Nicholson, who took overall responsibility for the project's construction on time and below budget and who remains responsible for the technical aspects of Kounrad. We are proud that this copper has been produced from what was waste material, and at costs that are amongst the lowest in the world,” the company said.
Central Asia Metals, an AIM-listed UK company based in London, owns 100 percent of the Kounrad SX-EW copper project in central Kazakhstan and 100 percent of the Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia.
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