Katanga loses 67 production days to intermittent DRC power supply
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Toronto-listed Katanga Mining, which has two copper/cobalt operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Monday said intermittent power supply issues had resulted in a total of 1 609 hours, or about 67 days, of lost production.
However, the company said the commissioning in mid-December of a convertor and a synchronous condenser had reduced power disruptions and, in the medium-to-long term, improvements in infrastructure as a result of its power project were expected to improve the reliability and stability of electricity supply in general.
During 2012, the company mined 22% more ore year-on-year, at 5.54-million tons of ore grading 4.12% copper, resulting in 228 606 t of contained copper in the mined ore.
Katanga reported a 13% increase in ore milled at the Kamoto concentrator during 2012, which was a record at 4.61-million tons and an increase of 13% over the previous year.
Despite the power availability issues, copper produced in metal and concentrate for 2012 totalled a record 92 963 t, an increase of 2% when compared with 2011. Cobalt production totalled 2 129 t in the year, a decrease of 13% compared with 2011.
The company said it expected the mechanical completion of the updated Phase 4 expansion to be complete by the third quarter, which would enable Katanga to increase the total processing capacity, as well as upgrade the quality of copper produced.
The first phase of the feasibility study for the potential T17 underground mine is also expected to be complete during the second quarter. This would potentially allow for the exploitation of additional T17 mineral resources below the bottom of the current openpit, using underground mining techniques.
The company’s shares declined by 2.38% in value to 82 Canadian cents apiece on the TSX on Monday.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
