AFRICAN Rainbow Minerals (ARM) is set to create about 3,000 jobs at its new mine in the north of Chingola where construction for the production of copper by 2015 has started.

Mines and Minerals Development minister Maxwell Mwale said in an interview in Lusaka that the company would start producing copper in the next five years.

The minister said construction has already started at Konkola North to produce 45,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate in the first phase of the project but this would increase in the second phase to 100,000 tonnes.

And ARM executive chairperson said in a media release on its website that the company was building the new mine in the country with its partner, Vale and described the project as exciting to its diverse commodity portfolio.

The partners had a three-year exploration programme to supply material into that expansion.

The two mining firms were in talks with Mopani Copper Mines, Chambishi Copper Mines and Vedanta Mineral Resources to treat their concentrate.

ARM and Vale spent 18 months studying the copper market and the expectation was for them to grow.

The price of a three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange rose 9.75 to 7314,25 a tonne last week.

The reason for the anticipated rapid growth at the new mine was that Anglo American operated Konkola until the late 1950s, when it sunk a 420m-deep shaft there.

ARM and Vale hope to rehabilitate and re-equip the mine, which was forecast to have a life span of 28 years.