Reuters reported that annual copper mine production capacity is expected to reach 26.2 million tonnes in 2015 after rising at an average rate of 6.6% per year from 2012 through 2015.

The International Copper Study Group said that owing to project postponements following the 2008 economic crisis and to technical, financial and permitting delays, 74% of this growth is expected to only occur in 2014 and 2015.

By 2015, of the total mine production capacity increase copper in concentrate capacity is expected to grow by 6.9% a year to reach 20.4 million tonnes, and solvent extraction electrowinning production capacity by 5.4% per year to reach 5.7 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, annual smelter capacity growth is expected to lag behind the growth in concentrates growing by an average of only 3.7% a year to reach 21.4 million tonnes in 2015 an increase of 2.9 million tonnes from 2011.

The ICSG also predicts world copper refinery capacity will reach 28.9 million tonnes in 2015 up 17.5 percent from 2011. About 3.2 million tonnes of the expansion is expected to come from electrolytic refineries and 1.1 million tonnes from electrowinning capacity.

Just under half of the world refinery capacity increase during the period is expected to come from electrolytic refineries in China. About 30 percent will come from electrolytic capacity increases in India, Indonesia and Iran.

About 15% will be from electrowinning capacity increases in Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. Most of the new mine projects and expansions are located in Brazil, Chile, China, DRC, Mongolia, Peru, the United States and Zambia. Together these countries account for around 4.1 million tonnes or 70% of the projected mine capacity increase during this period.

(Sourced from Reuters)