Chinese miner Sinomine says its board of directors have approved investment plans for the Kitumba copper mine in Zambia, Kallanish reports.  

According to a stock exchange statement, the project is planned at about $563m, of which $506m will go towards construction, to be met by Kitumba’s own funds.

Sinomine’s subsidiary, Sinomine Kitumba Minerals Company, is the project company. The construction period is planned to last 1.5 years, enabling an 11-year operation.

The ore-selecting project has an annual capacity of 3.5 million tonnes/year of raw ores, and the mineral processing products are copper sulphide concentrate and copper oxide concentrate. Copper metal will be recovered by heap leaching for low-grade ores with a content of 0.35%-0.60%, and the designed production scale is to process 1m t/y.

Meanwhile, the smelting project has a planned capacity of 60,000 t/y of copper cathodes with no less than 99.95% of grade. The by-product is sulfuric acid, with a grade of 93%. The average output of cathode copper during the mine’s service life is 49,600 t/y.

The Kitumba copper mine enjoys is located in the Mumbwa area of central Zambia. The mining right is effective from November 2014 to November 2039. Extension can be obtained. 

According to a third-party feasibility study made in November 2024, within the open-pit mining area of ​​the Kitumba copper mine, the mining and selection design utilises 36.06m t of copper ore resources, 621,000 t of copper metal, at an average copper grade of 1.72%. After heap leaching, the low-grade copper ore resources that can be recovered reach 12.14m t. This means 54,500 t of copper metal with an average copper grade of 0.45%. Sinomine says the total recoverable copper metal is estimated at 675,500 t.

Zambia’s government announced in August, during a groundbreaking ceremony, that the Kitumba project is a “game changer” for the nation, as it aligns with its target of achieving 3m t of copper production by 2030.