Singapore 19/08/2015 - Zinc ingot production at China’s Yunnan Chihong Zinc & Germanium Co rose 35.6 percent year-on-year to 93,840 tonnes in January-June this year, the company announced in its half-year financial report on Tuesday.
Its lead ingot output, however, fell 53.6 percent year-on-year to 22,620 tonnes in January-June.
The company’s zinc production had increased due to the start-up of its new smelter in Huize in southwest Yunnan which has production capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year for zinc and 60,000 tonnes per year for crude lead, a company spokeswoman told Fastmarkets. The plant was commissioned late last year.
Zinc output was also boosted by the start-up of its Hulunbuir smelter in northern Inner Mongolia this year, which has zinc and lead production capacities at 140,000 tonnes per year and 60,000 tonnes per year respectively, she said. The plant is still under trial production.
Lead production had fallen as the company has decreased production of the metal due to falling lead prices and maintenances of its facilities, she added.
Chihong’s zinc alloy production fell 16.5 percent to 15,230 tonnes in the first six months of the year.
Output of silver products was at 42.053 tonnes in the first-half, up 17.8 percent year-on-year. Gold production totalled 8.15 kilograms in January-June. There was no comparative figure.
Chihong booked net profit of 65 million yuan in January-June, down 30.9 percent year-on-year, though revenue was up at 12.8% year-on-year to 10.52 billion yuan in the same period.
The company had faced slower macroeconomic growth and low metal prices in the first half of 2015, it said in the report.
Chihong had said in its 2014 financial report report that is targeting to produce 80,000 tonnes of electrolytic lead, 50,000 tonnes of crude lead, 300,000 tonnes of zinc products, 45 tonnes of silver, and 17.5 kilograms of gold for 2015.
The company is aiming revenue at 20 billion yuan, and positive profit growth for 2015.
Chihong has mines in China’s Yunnan, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, and in Canada and Bolivia. It has capacities of 3 million tonnes per year for mining, 4.5 million tonnes per year for beneficiating, 650,000 tonnes per year for lead and zinc refining, 150 kilograms per year for gold production and 180 tonnes per year for silver production.
Other than the Huize plant, Chihong’s other main smelting facility is in Qujing, Yunnan which has production capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year each for zinc and lead.