Singapore 28/01/2016 - MMG Limited expects to produce 415,000-477,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate this year - doubling from output of 207,528 tonnes last year - as it ramps up production its Las Bambas mine in Peru, the company said in its quarterly report on Thursday.
Las Bambas is expected to achieve commercial production in the second half of this year, with full 2016 production expected at 250,000-300,000 tonnes, the company said.
Once in full production, Las Bambas will have annual nameplate capacity throughput of 51.1 million tonnes and will rank as one of the top three copper producing mines in the world, said MMG.
First copper concentrate was produced at Las Bambas in late-December with 9,121 tonnes of copper in concentrate produced in the October-December quarter as part of commissioning activities.
First shipment of around 10,000 tonnes of copper concentrate from Las Bambas was shipped to China on January 15.
MMG’s copper production had risen eight percent to 207,528 tonnes in 2015, a record for the company.
Its Kinsevere operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo saw record copper cathode production of 80,169 tonnes last year, which was significantly above its nameplate capacity.
Its Sepon mine in Laos produced 89,253 tonnes of copper despite the transition to processing more difficult Type II ore with lower feed grades and recoveries.
Meanwhile MMG expects to produce 120,000-135,000 tonnes of zinc in 2016, down 75-78 percent from production of 539,902 tonnes in 2015 following the closure of its Century mine in Australia in the fourth quarter of last year.
Final ore was extracted from the Century zinc open-pit during August 2015, with final processing of Century-sourced ore in November 2015. Final sales of Century zinc and lead concentrates had occurred in January 2016.
During its 16-year mine life, Century was the largest zinc mine in the world and Australia's biggest open-pit operation.