Higher than anticipated copper grades at the top of the ore body and the successful ramp up of the sulphide concentrator are expected to result in Aktogay meeting or exceeding the upper end of its 2017 copper production guidance range of 70-85 kt.
The Group’s third quarter production results will be set out in the Quarterly Production Report and Interim Management Statement on 26 October 2017.
Oleg Novachuk, Chief Executive, said: “I am pleased to announce that we have achieved commercial production at the Aktogay sulphide plant, the second of our two major growth projects. During the construction and ramp up of the projects we have consistently delivered against our operational and financial targets and we now look forward to reaching design capacity at Bozshakol this year and Aktogay in 2018.”
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KAZ Minerals PLC (“KAZ Minerals” or “the Group”) is a high growth copper company focused on large scale, low cost, open pit mining in Kazakhstan. It operates the Bozshakol and Aktogay open pit copper mines in the Pavlodar and East regions of Kazakhstan, three underground mines and associated concentrators in the East Region of Kazakhstan and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. In 2016, total copper cathode equivalent output was 140 kt with by-products of 75 kt of zinc in concentrate, 120 koz of gold bar equivalent and 3,103 koz of silver bar equivalent.
The Group’s new operations at Bozshakol and Aktogay are delivering one of the highest growth rates in the industry and transforming KAZ Minerals into a company dominated by world class, open pit copper mines.