Charlotte Mathews
18 November 2008
Johannesburg — TEAL Exploration & Mining, which is 65%-owned by African Rainbow Minerals, was continuing to explore for copper in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo but had slowed mining at Lupoto to help cut costs , it said yesterday.
Teal is following a similar strategy to some of the other small copper miners operating in the Congo and Zambia as the copper price has fallen 44% so far this year to $3680/ton on the London Metal Exchange.
Last week, First Quantum said it would suspend the operation of its Bwana Mkubwa processing plant in Zambia, cut costs, renegotiate supply contracts and defer other nonessential spending. Katanga Mining, which operates a copper complex near Kolwezi, said it was reviewing capital expenditure but wanted to retain its options on development properties.
Teal said it would continue to explore for copper at Konkola North in Zambia, where it has four drill rigs operating and has outlined a resource of 219,5-million tons of copper. At the northern end of the property it has completed a feasibility study into building a mine and is discussing the size of the underground infrastructure and concentrator with its partner, ZCCM Investment Holdings.
At Kalumines, in the Congo, where Teal will fund and complete a feasibility study by September next year, it said it had reviewed the small-scale mining at Lupoto and had decided to scale this back to 50000m' a month from 300000m' previously.
The company had also reviewed major contracts and started various cost-cutting measures.
Teal was continuing with exploration on its Otjikoto gold property in Namibia, where it had outlined a potential resource of nearly 2-million ounces of gold, it said.
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