Companies

China Xiangguang to triple copper capacity next year

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-09 11:30

HONG KONG - China's Xiangguang Copper plans to triple production capacity by the first half of next year as the construction of a second phase unit and upgrade projects are completed, a company official said on Thursday.

Xiangguang will raise copper refining and smelting capacity to 600,000 tons from 200,000 tons, a third bigger than its original plan, making it the third biggest copper producer in the country which is the world's top consumer of the metal.

"The (new) capacity should start production in the first half of next year," said a corporate affairs manager at Xiangguang, who declined to be named.

He said Xiangguang is building 250,000 tons of annual capacity and upgrading the existing 200,000 tons of capacity to 250,000 tons. The combined 500,000 tons of capacity would use concentrates as feed.

In addition, the company is building a 100,000 tons of capacity which would use scrap as feed, he added.

The added capacity would boost the company's demand for imports of copper concentrates.

"Most of our concentrates are imported. We are planning to expand upstream to secure resources," the manager said of concentrate supply and did not give details of the expansion plan.

Xiangguang has eyed a stake in Rocklands Project controlled by Australian gold and copper miner CuDeco Ltd to secure raw material supplies,?according to a previous?China Daily report.

The manager said the local county government of Yanggu in Shandong province has invited investors to build another 300,000 tons of copper production capacity as part of a local plan to house a total of 900,000 tons of copper capacity, including Xiangguang's 600,000 tons, within 6 years.

He said Xiangguang had not decided whether to invest in the proposed project.

China, a key driver for a 140 percent price rise on the London Metal Exchange copper last year, produced 4.25 million tons of refined copper in 2009 according to the official data.

Xiangguang is expanding to downstream products and started building a complex in Yanggu with total annual capacity of 320,000 tons of semi-finished and finished copper products, the manager said.

The company is part of China's private Shandong Fengxiang Group, or Fambros Group, which mainly supplies chicken to global fast food chains.