Lumwana Mining Company, a subsidiary of Equinox Minerals, raised its copper production from 109,413 tonnes in 2009 to 146,690 tonnes in 2010.
A company statement issued on Monday said that it now targets a production of 145,000 tonnes of copper from the Lumwana mine in 2011. The target for 2010 had been 135,000 tonnes of copper and the company has beaten its guidance two years running.
The mine located in Solwezi is yet to meet the targeted 170,000 tonnes of copper concentrates. Equinox Minerals said that the Lumwana Copper Mine produced 33,939 tonnes of copper concentrate in the fourth quarter of last year.
The company which has recently acquired Citadel Resources said that the production was consistent but the copper produced in the fourth quarter was lower than in the third quarter due to lower head grades. A small quantity of uranium ore was also mined and stockpiled besides copper ore mining at the Lumwana mine in this period.
For the current year Equinox Minerals has said that mine throughput would be increased by increased material movement in the mine. The mine has been seeing material movement in excess of 105 million tonnes a year with the last quarter seeing material movement of 28.52 tonnes.