Central Asia Metals plc has received regulatory approvals to exploit the Western dumps at its Kounrad SX-EW copper recovery operation, in Kazakhstan.
The company currently extracts copper from the Eastern dumps and earlier this year expanded the plant to a capacity of 15,000 t/y of copper cathode. As the Eastern dumps become exhausted, the company will now be able to maintain production levels from the larger Western dumps. Construction works are scheduled to commence in March 2016 and the budgeted capital cost is US$19.5 million, all of which will be funded from cashflow.
The company is on schedule to meet its revised production target of 12,000 t of copper for 2015 after achieving production of 1,285 t in October.
The Kazakhstan Tenge has devalued 65% against the US Dollar so far this year, which will be beneficial for cash costs of production.
Central Asia Metals gets approval for treatment of Western dumps: CAML