KGHM delays

KGHM received a permit to build the 100,000-meter-per-year capacity plant from the Congolese authorities in March and had planned to start construction in June. "We have new geologists acquainting themselves with the Kimpe deposit reserves. We'll wait until the latest confirmation of this data," KGHM's supervisory board chairperson, Elżbieta Niebisz, said last week.

According to Andrzej Kowalczyk, director general of KGHM's investor relations, the project was initially based on cobalt excavation because of the high cobalt prices. Now, with copper prices reaching $4,000/meter (zł.13,277), a new estimate of the deposit's copper reserves is required. The latest estimates suggest the Kimpe deposit contains an additional 11,000 meters of copper. (Reuters)