Zambia's Mopani plans $100 mln copper project

By Chris Mfula

LUSAKA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), a unit of Swiss firm Glencore International AG plans to spend $100 million to sink a new shaft and extend the mine life by 25 years, a minister said on Friday.

Mines Minister Maxwell Mwale told Reuters Mopani planned to develop the new shaft in order to access untapped mineral resource of about 100 million tonnes of copper bearing ore beneath the existing Nkana south ore body and the central shaft ore body in Kitwe, 330 km north of Lusaka.

'The ore bodies being mined are nearing their end and the existing shaft infrastructure cannot go deeper for them to access the rich ore body. They can mine for another 25 years once they access the ore body beneath,' Mwale said.

Rayford Mbulu, the president of the Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) separately told Reuters the mine management had informed the union work on the new shaft would start this year.

'Apart from the new shaft, they are also planning to start building an open pit mine starting this year and this mine will have a lifespan of about 18 to 20 years,' Mbulu said.

Mbulu said the open pit mine would be developed in the Mindolo ore body, one of Zambia's oldest mining sites, which together with the Mufulira copper mine and Mufulira smelter, are operated by Mopani.

Analysts say, however, that such projects could be delayed because investors were worried about several issues, including the absence of a long-term taxation policy, wage demands, energy supply, high cost of operating in Zambia and uncertain political future ahead of the 2011 presidential and general elections.

Standard Chartered Bank's head of research for Africa, Razia Khan said on Thursday that because of the uncertainty, many mining investors had slowed down implementation of new projects that may be critical for the extension of the lifespan of the mines.

(Editing by James Jukwey) (For more Africa cover visit: http://af.reuters.com/ -- To comment on this story email: [e-mail]) Keywords: ZAMBIA MINING/MOPANI ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.