AKIPRESS.COM - KAZ Minerals Group produced 52.1 thousand tons of copper, increasing production by 16% in the 1st quarter of 2017, the company said.

Copper production increased by 16% to 52.1 kt from the prior quarter, driven by the successful commissioning of the Aktogay sulphide concentrator, which contributed 7.2 kt in Q1 2017, as well as the continuing ramp up of Bozshakol. The contributions from Bozshakol and Aktogay have resulted in a 130% increase in copper production versus the prior year period.

Total ore extraction of 16.9 million tonnes represents an increase of 27% and 59% versus the previous quarter and prior year period respectively, providing feed to the Bozshakol and Aktogay processing plants.

Ore processed increased by 29% in Q1 2017 compared to the previous quarter and was significantly above the prior year period as the Bozshakol and Aktogay sulphide concentrators raised throughput. Of the 16.9 million tonnes of ore extracted, 7.7 million tonnes of ore was processed at concentrators,
4.2 million tonnes of oxide ore was placed on leach pads at Aktogay and 5.1 million tonnes of clay ore was stockpiled at Bozshakol. The average copper grade processed at concentrators of 0.80% was lower than the 1.67% grade in Q1 2016 when the majority of the Group’s copper production consisted of output from the higher grade underground mines in the East Region.

Zinc in concentrate output reduced by 19% from Q4 2016 to Q1 2017 due to a temporarily lower zinc grade at Artemyevsky. Zinc in concentrate production declined by 22% compared to the prior year period, also due to the mine closure and a lower grade of zinc in ore processed at Orlovsky.
Gold production was stable at 42.5 koz compared to 42.0 koz in the previous quarter, as a 2.0 koz increase in output from Bozshakol was offset by declining production from the East Region. The 27.3 koz increase in contribution from Bozshakol led to significantly higher gold production compared to Q1 2016.

Silver output decreased by 23% to 757 koz in Q1 2017 compared to the previous quarter mainly due to lower East Region grades, but increased by 7% compared to Q1 2016 as increased production from Bozshakol more than offset lower output in the East Region.