AltX-listed African Eagle had taken a strategic decision to move from explorer to miner as quickly as possible and was looking to producing its first copper before South Africa's 2010 World Cup, MD Mark Parker said in Johannesburg on Friday.

Parker told Mining Weekly Online that the company had been prompted by the "flight from risk" in world capital markets, which had resulted in relatively risky activities, such as exploration, falling out of favour in the market.

"It's clear that, if we want to win market recognition, we have to become a producer," Parker said.

"We expect the full feasibility results for Mkushi to come through be the end of October and we could be producing copper from Mkushi before the next World Cup in 2010," Parker said.

A brownfield project where mining has taken place in the past, Mkushi is located just outside of the Copperbelt in Zambia.

It is well served by power, water, transport and communication links.

The life-of-mine capital requirement would be "a modest" $70-million to $80-million and the metallurgy was "very straight forward".

"We are not expecting difficulty in raising the finance, particularly the debt finance, to take Mkushi into production," Parker said.