Equinox Secures Funds For Huge Copper Mine

Given Chikeu
Correspondent | Monday April 23, 2007 00:00

Lumwana Mine mining manager Harry Michael says that the total investment for the development of the mine is pegged at US $ 762 million.
Michael said that the remaining amount of US $178 million would be sourced from shareholders. The total would be repaid by 2018.
Michael said the development of Lumwana Mine would be the largest investment in Africa, signifying the confidence that investors had in Equinox's activities in Zambia and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region as a whole.
Equinox is listed on the Australian and Toronto stock exchanges and there are intentions of listing the mining company on the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE).
Michael said that the mining company needed more capital as it was involved in the importation of machinery as well.
In an another development, Lumwana Mine Company has received a Semi-Autonegeuous Grrinder (SAG) mill for its copper mine in North Western Province that will be the largest in Africa.
Once installed, the SAG would have an output of 169, 000 metric tones of copper annually, corporate affairs manager Nathan Chishimba has said.
He said the SAG mill has been installed at a cost of US$ 30 million. Chishimba said the SAG would process 2,450 tones per hour, translating into about 169,000 tones of copper per year. Lumwana, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equinox Mineral Limited, said mill relining would cost US $ 1.5 million.
As a result of the developments in the North Western
Province, the Zambia government has indicated that it would construct a railway line from the Copperbelt to that region where new mines, including the operational Kansanshi Mine, are being developed.
The first link between Chingola and Solwezi, the headquarters of the North Western Province, would cost US $ 75 million.
The ultimate goal of the railway extension is to link it with the Benguela Railway line that goes to Angola's Port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean. (Sila Press Agency)