China Nonferrous Metals Group in talks to invest in Kazakh copper smelter (updated)

China Nonferrous Mining

03/03/2023 03:40

(This March 2 story was updated on March 3 to add a no comment
from company, share reaction)
       BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters) - China Nonferrous Metals
Mining Group Co Ltd (CNMC) executives met with representatives
from the Kazakh government to discuss investment in a 300,000
tonne copper cathode plant, Kazakh state news agency Kazinform
reported on Thursday. 
    Liu Yu, deputy director general of state-owned CNMC, met
with Marat Karabayev, minister of industry and infrastructure
development, in the Kazakh capital Astana, state media said.
    Kazakhstan's largest copper producer Kazakhmys Corp
 KMCP.KZ  and Kazakh miner KAZ Minerals will also participate in
the project, state media added. 
    CNMC did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
    A major company that has taken the lead in developing
China's overseas non-ferrous mineral resources with numerous
investments, CNMC also has an electrolytic aluminium project in
Kazakhstan. 
    Kazakhstan holds reserves of 20 million tons of copper,
according to U.S. Geological Survey. The country produced
453,003 tonnes of refined copper in 2022, up 12.7% from a year
earlier, data from the Kazakh Statistics Bureau shows.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N3420R8
    Shares in CNMC unit, China Nonferrous Metal Industry's
Foreign Engineering and Construction  000758.SZ , rose 2% in
morning Friday trade. 
    
($1 = 6.9018 Chinese yuan)

 (Reporting by Andrew Hayley and Siyi Liu in Beijing, Mai Nguyen
in Hanoi; editing by Barbara Lewis and Edwina Gibbs)
 ((Andrew.Hayley@thomsonreuters.com;))