Two Australian mining companies, Blackthorn Resources Limited and Intrepid Mines, which recently completed a merger, have embarked on a $460 million copper project in western Zambia.
The merged companies are reportedly set to hit the investment ground running, despite only securing a merger approval from the Federal Court of Australia just a month ago. “I am now confident that we can enter the next chapter in the company’s life with the right people in place and sufficient funds available to the merged group, providing a stable platform from which to pursue value creation and growth opportunities,” said Blackthorn Resources chairman, Michael Oppenheimer.
Straight to business
The two Australian firms have started developing the Kitumba copper mine in Mumbwa in west-central Zambia, approximately 200km west of the capital, Lusaka. In April 2014, Blackthorn Resources also announced that it had entered into an agreement with Glencore to sell its remaining 27.3 percent equity interest in the Perkoa Project in Burkina Faso to Glencore.
Currently, Zambia is the largest copper producer in Africa and the seventh largest copper producer in the world.
The southern African country has a mining history spanning over ninety years. In the late 1960s, the country was ranked as the world’s third largest copper producer, after the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Following a succession of slumps in output over the past few years, the Zambian copper mining industry recorded a marked rebound between 2012 and 2013; it managed a strong growth rate of 6.5 percent in 2013, supported by a 20 percent rise in copper output in 2012.
By George Mpofu