EKCC (Kazakhstan) to increase copper concentrate production up to 27 th. tons

/IRBIS, March 6, 00/ - REUTERS informs, with the reference to the general director of the enterprise, East-Kazakhstan copper-chemical combine (EKCC) of corporation Kazakhmys plans to increase copper concentrate production up to 27,000 tons this year from 25,600 tons last year and zinc concentrate production up to 60,000 tons this year from 56,300 tons last year. Vitalii Vakhrushev said to journalists that they had a systematic growth in production which is believed to be one of the ways of cutting the costs and increasing sales. He also said production had grown 26% relative to 1998. This combine is a branch of VostokKazmed and is part of corporation Kazakhmys. It contains Nikolaevskii enrichment factory and three mines - Nikolaevskii, Shemonaikhinskii and Artemevskii. The combine produces both copper and zinc. The former is supplied to Jezkazgan and Balkhash copper smelters (part of Kazakhmys) and the latter is supplied to OJSC Kazzinc. The production of corporation Kazakhmys reached 360,000 tons of refined copper last year and it is expected to reach 400,000 tons this year. Besides this combine, the corporation has several enrichment factories and mines in central Kazakhstan. The general director said South Korean Samsung (managing company of Kazakhmys) was planning to invest $2 mln into the combine this year. Another $1.5 mln is planned to be invested in Artemevskii mine that is under construction, and which is believed to reach its full capacity in 8 years at 800 th. tons of ore a year. Nikolaevskii mine has been exploited for 35 years and it is expected to have 15 mln tons of ore left for another 8 years. The third Shemonaikhinskii mine, with current 200 th. tons of ore a year, is close to the depletion which is expected to happen in two years. The combine is going to explore and develop additional sites, such as this summer Trubka deposit site, near Shemonaikha community, is planned to be developed, said the general director. He added geological administration has been established at the combine that conducts searches for deposit sites. He said Kazakhmys was planning to build a new zinc plant to consume the concentrate from the combine.