Kazakh copper miner Kazakhmys has agreed a joint venture for one of its major projects with China’s Jinchuan Group Ltd (金川集團) to share the high costs.
Kazakhmys, the world’s eighth-largest copper producer, said yesterday it would sell a 49 percent stake in its Aktogay project in the east of Kazakhstan to Jinchuan for US$120 million.
The two firms will share development costs, estimated at US$1.5 billion to US$2 billion, of Aktogay, due to produce 100,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate per year. That would boost current output by about a third.
“Kazakhstan’s extensive infrastructure and proximity to the Chinese market has been central in taking these projects forward,” CEO Oleg Novachuk said.
The project, seen as a large open pit mine, is located in the Ayoguz region of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhmys bills Aktogay as one of the leading undeveloped copper deposits in the world, with contained copper of nearly 5 million tonnes to support a mine life of 40 years. A feasibility study is due to take about a year, after which mine construction will last three more years, it said.
Jinchuan produces a range of non-ferrous metals, but its biggest products are nickel and platinum group metals, accounting for more than 90 percent of China’s total output of those products.
Kazakhmys said last month that it was in good shape to pursue its expansion projects after slashing its net debt.
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