Kazakhstan- and London-listed Kaz Minerals managed to increase its copper production for 2018 by 14% to 294 700 t, compared with 258 500 t in 2017, hitting the upper end of its 270 000 t to 300 000 t guidance.

The company’s gold production for the year also increased to 183 400 oz, compared with 178 700 oz in 2017, which exceeds the guidance set between 160 000 oz and 175 000 oz.

Kaz’s production was supported by 101 600 t copper produced from Bozshakol, in Kazakhstan, compared with 101 300 t copper produced in 2017, while it produced 127 800 oz of gold, ahead of the 115 000 oz to 120 000 oz guidance.

The company’s Aktogay mine, also in Kazakhstan, produced 45% of the yearly copper production, at 131 400 t copper, compared with 90 200 t produced in 2017, exceeding the 110 000 t to 130 000 t guidance for 2018.

Aktogay produced 25 700 t of oxide, which was slightly above the 20 000 t to 25 000 t guidance.

Kaz’s operations in East Region, in Kazakhstan, and Bozymchak, in Kyrgyzstan, produced 61 700 t copper against full year guidance of about 65 000 t, compared with 67 000 t copper produced in 2017.

The operations also produced 55 000 oz of gold and 2.3-million ounces of silver, 10% and 18% ahead of guidance, respectively.

The company stated low grades at East Region and Bozymchak continued to impact on zinc production, with a full-year output of 49 800 t, which was below the yearly guidance of 60 000 t.

Meanwhile, in January, the company acquired the Baimskaya copper project in the Chukotka region of Russia.

Baimskaya is one of the world's most significant undeveloped copper assets with the potential to become a large-scale, low-cost, openpit copper mine. The Peschanka deposit within the Baimskaya licence area has Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resources of 9.5-million tonnes of copper at an average grade of 0.43% and 16.5-million ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.23 g/t.

Average yearly production over the first ten years of the mine is expected to be 250 000 t of copper and 400 000 oz gold, with a mine life of about 25 years.