Jinchuan International (02362) mining business production of 13,914 tons of copper in the first quarter increased by about 6.8% year-on-year

Zhitongcaijing · 06/10 13:49

According to the Zhitong Finance App, Jinchuan International (02362) announced that in the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Group's mining business produced 13,914 tons of copper (copper content in electrolytic copper and copper concentrates), an increase of about 6.8% year-on-year from 13,026 tons in the same period in 2024. The increase was mainly driven by the shift in production from electrolytic copper to copper concentrate at the Ruashi mine. Due to the unstable power supply of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's national grid, the group temporarily suspended the Solvent Extraction-Electrolytic Smelting (SX-EW) system, which consumes a lot of electricity at the Ruashi mine, in January 2025. As a result, electrolytic copper production declined, while the Group concentrated on flotation plants with low electricity consumption to increase copper concentrate production, thereby maintaining overall production levels. To solve the power supply problem, the Group actively installed additional diesel generators, and the SX-EW system resumed operation in mid-May 2025.

Due to the temporary suspension of the SX-EW system, the Group produced 71 tons of cobalt in the first quarter (cobalt content in cobalt hydroxide), a year-on-year decrease of about 86.6% from 530 tons in the same period up to 2024.

In the first quarter, the Group's mining business sold 11,957 tons of copper (copper content in direct delivery ores, electrolytic copper and copper concentrates), a year-on-year decrease of about 9.5% from 13,206 tons in the same period ending 2024.

The decline in copper sales in the first quarter was due to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government's announcement in February 2025 to temporarily suspend all cobalt exports for four months. This move had an unanticipated impact on copper concentrate sales at the Ruashi mine. The copper concentrate produced at the Ruashi mine contains very little cobalt and is therefore still affected by the export ban, leading to a decline in sales. The copper concentrate produced at the Kinsenda mine was not affected by the export ban. Due to low cobalt production and export bans, the Group did not sell any cobalt, and sold 318 tons of cobalt as of the same period in 2024.

Furthermore, trading continues to be suspended.