DRC-focused copper miner First Quantum Minerals has resumed production at its Frontier copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, corporate relations manager Geoff Chater confirmed on Monday.

The company had also begun shipping concentrate from the mine to processing facilities in Zambia.

First Quantum said last week that it had received a letter dated November 28, 2007, from the governor of the DRC's Katanga province, Moise Katumbi, ordering the closure of the DRC border to the export of copper ores and exploration core samples by First Quantum from the Lonshi mine to Zambia, and 'advising' the company not to ship copper concentrate from Frontier to Zambia.

Plant operations had been suspended at Frontier on December 11, after the mine's concentrate storage shed filled up with product owing to the blocked shipments.

Chater declined to comment on when shipments from Lonshi could resume.

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