Chibuluma Mines
| Chibuluma Mines | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | around 1945 |
| Seat | Kalulushi |
| management | G. Hepburn |
| Number of employees | 400 |
| sales | $ 50 million |
| Branch | Mining |
Chibuluma Mines is a public company in Zambia . It has been 85 percent owned by Metorex Ltd. since 1998 . in the Republic of South Africa and 15 percent owned by Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings . Chibuluma Mines is listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange, i.e. not traded.
The company has been mining copper and cobalt ore in open-cast mines in Chibuluma-West and South near Kitwe since the mid-1940s . In 2002, their capacity was 1,200 tons of copper per month. Previously, Metorex had doubled capacity through an investment of US $ 13.26 million in a new facility in Chibuluma-South, which began operations in 2001. In 2003 5,300 tons of copper were mined, in 2002 7,373 tons of copper and 77 tons of cobalt. The ore deposits in Chibuluma-West with 2.5 percent copper and 0.1 percent cobalt content are considered almost exhausted and should be closed at the end of 2004. The mining of 20,000 t of ore, i.e. 600 t of copper per month, will continue as underground mining. Those in Chibuluma-Süd with three percent ore content can be exploited until 2015 (estimate).
Chibuluma Mines plans to increase copper ore processing from 10,000 t to 40,000 t per month. A concentrate is obtained that is either sold to Zambian companies for further processing or transported to South Africa.
Chibuluma Mines has neither balance sheets nor sales figures. In 2006 the world market price for one ton of copper was around US $ 5,000. In 2006, 13,000 t of copper concentrate will be produced, which could correspond to sales of around US $ 50 million.