Reuters cited Mr Aset Isekeshev industry minister of Kazakhstan as saying that government has plans to increase annual copper cathode output by 95,000 tonnes or nearly 24% within 5 years.

He told a mining conference that Kazakh copper producer Kazakhmys would account for 25,000 tonnes of the total increase while Glencore controlled Kazzinc would raise production by 70,000 tonnes. He said that Kazakhstan, an ex Soviet republic of 16 million currently produces 400,000 tonnes of copper cathode a year.

Kazzinc has said that it would launch a new USD 700 million copper facility this year in eastern Kazakhstan, near the border with China. Kazakhmys, for its part, plans to launch its new Boschekul copper facility by 2014 which it says would produce about 100,000 tonnes of copper concentrate a year.

The company has said that Boschekul is also located conveniently near the border to serve the Chinese market. China Development Bank has lent Kazakhmys USD 2.7 billion for 15 years at the rate of LIBOR plus 4.8% to finance it.

(Sourced from Reuters)