KAZ Minerals posts copper output increase through Q1/2019

The KAZ Minerals Group increased its overall copper and ores production in the first quarter of 2019, with its Aktogai plant increasing copper and sulfide ore production and Bozhshakol, Bozymchak and the Eastern Region plants increasing ore production.

In the first quarter of 2019, the KAZ Minerals Group produced 67,300 tonnes of copper, which is 4 percent more than in the last quarter of 2018, the press service of the company reports. By the end of the year, a further increase in production is expected due to higher copper content at Bozshakol as well as an increase in processing volumes at the Nikolayev and Bozshakol plants for the processing of kaolinized ore. The Bozshakol and Aktogai sulfide ore processing factories in the first quarter reached their target levels of production.

The company is on the way to achieving its copper production target for 2019, which is approximately 300,000 tonnes, according to KAZ Minerals Board Chairman Andrew Southam.

“Aktogai and Bozshakol demonstrated good performance in the winter period, reaching the planned level of production. Record refining volumes and increased extraction rates at Aktogai provided 37,000 tons of copper in the first quarter, offsetting the reduced average copper content in the ore and seasonal fluctuations in oxide production. Within nine months of the year, an increase in the production of Bozshakol and the Eastern Region plant is expected. The target range of copper production by our company in 2019 remains at around 300,000 tonnes.”

The company press service also published the copper production levels of Aktogai, Bozshakol, Bozymchagank, and the Eastern Region plants for the first quarter of 2019, comparing them with the last quarter of 2018.

Aktogai produced 36,700 tonnes of copper in the first quarter of 2019, compared with 36,000 tonnes in 2018. Bozshakol produced 23,800 tonnes, compared with 26,600 at the end of 2018. Bozymchank and the Eastern Region combined produced 9,500 tonnes, as opposed to 15,300 the quarter before. Although the growth wasn’t universal, ore production partially made up for it, with Aktogai producing 31,000 tonnes of sulfide ore in the first quarter of 2019 compared with 29,200 the quarter before, and 5,7000 tonnes of oxide ore, compared with 6,800 tonnes in the previous quarter. Bozshakol’s total ore production grew from 7.5 million tonnes in 2018 to 8.9 million tonnes in 2019. Bozymchak and the Eastern Region produced 963,000 tonnes of ore, as opposed to 959,000 tonnes in the previous quarter.

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