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Zambian mine to re-export Chilean copper concentrates

Xinhua, September 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

A Zambian mining firm on Tuesday obeyed an order to dispose copper concentrates it imported from Chile after it was rejected by authorities in Africa's second largest copper producer.

Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, said it will fully comply with an order by Zambia's environment regulator, the Zambia Environmental Management Authority (ZEMA), to dispose of the copper concentrates it imported from Chile in Chile.

The company imported about 5,000 tons of copper concentrates from Chile in July this year but it was ordered not to process it after it was discovered that the level of arsenic, a toxic substance, in it was more than the one found in Zambia.

The government said the level of arsenic in copper concentrates mined in Zambia was one percent while the material imported from Chile had a level of around four percent.

Shapi Shachinda, the company's Manager for Public Relations and Communications said in a statement that the company was in a receipt of a letter from the environment regulator ordering it to re-export the copper concentrates.

He said the company has since complied and is currently working on logistics to take the concentrate out of the country.

The environmental regulator said on Monday that the mining firm should dispose of the copper concentrates and must submit a full program of how it was going to send the material from back to Chile or to other smelting facilities outside Zambia. Endit