16th Jan 2014 11:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - The Central Bank of Zambia said Thursday that its copper output was boosted 21% in the first 11 months of 2013, after investments by major companies and improving global metal prices, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Central Bank said copper output increased to 915,773 metric tonnes between January and November 2013 from 755,359 tonnes in the same period a year earlier, as new mines brought into production in the country by major companies began to come on stream, the newspaper reported.
While copper prices dropped at least 8% during 2013, the prices have shown possible signs of recovery since December, after strong US data and growth forecasts in China, it said.
Major metals companies like Glencore Xstrata PLC and Vedanta Resources PLC have put billions of dollars into the country's copper mining sector in the past few years, leading to a turnaround for the industry in Zambia.
The country has attracted major investors since 2006 after years of consistent fiscal policies and relative peace, and the country's copper output is expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes by 2015, WSJ said.
However, an independent metal analyst in Zambia Fredrick Bantubonse told the Wall Street Journal that Zambia's newly elected government has rattled investors in the country by introducing a range of new fiscal and tax measures in the mining sector.
Both Glencore and Vedanta were not immediately available for a comment.
Glencore shares were up 2.3% to 326.65 pence, putting it in the top ten FTSE100 gainers, while Vedanta Resources shares were up 3.3% to 895.50 pence, putting it in the top ten FTSE 250 gainers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20140116-701784.html
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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