Loading
Zijin Mining reported the start of production at its Qulong copper mine in Tibet, one of the largest in China, a major metal consumer, adding a new source of supply to the market for the coming year.
Zijin, a copper and gold producer that is acquiring Argentina-focused Neo Lithium, took control of the Qulong mine about 18 months ago when it bought a 50.1% stake in Tibet operator Julong Copper Co and quickly resumed construction on the project.
Julong Copper is expected to produce 120,000-130,000 tons of copper in 2022, including volumes from Qulong Phase 1 and the Zhibula mine, also in Tibet. After Phase 1 reaches its designated production capacity, the annual copper production volume will be about 160,000 tons.
The scarcity of the copper concentrate market seen in recent years is expected to diminish in 2022 as more mine production comes on line. Annual treatment and refining (TC/RC) charges agreed to by miners and smelters have increased for the first time since 2015.
If the project gains approvals from relevant government authorities, a final mining and processing scale of about 200 million tons of ore per year can be achieved, and it will become the world’s largest mining and processing scale copper mine.