WINDHOEK, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Consolidated Copper Corp. (CCC) has successfully restarted operations at the Tschudi copper plant after a four-year hiatus, the company has announced.
The restart has created more 60 new jobs for Namibians, with 75 percent of the refurbishment capital contracted to local Namibian suppliers, the firm said in a statement Wednesday.
The 20 million U.S. dollars in funding for the plant's restart has been provided through a secured debt facility from Triangle Resource Partners (TRP), a syndicate of some of CCC's founding shareholders, according to the statement.
Constructed in 2015, the Tschudi plant is Namibia's only LME-grade refined copper processing facility. Before it was placed on care and maintenance in 2020, the plant produced more than 80,000 tonnes of LME Grade A copper cathode a year. LME stands for the London Metal Exchange.
The restart of the Tschudi plant is seen as the first phase of Namibia's broader strategy of sustainably recommissioning three brownfield copper mines in the country.
The Namibian government wants to focus on domestic beneficiation of locally produced minerals.
The CCC said it is committed to becoming a responsible producer of metals and minerals critical for clean energy, with clear goals to minimize environmental impact and ensure the participation of local communities and economies.
"Tschudi has the potential to rival the great copper mines of the Central African Copper Belt," said CCC Chief Executive Officer John Sisay. "The true measure of our success will lie in the benefits experienced by the local community and our contribution to the clean energy value chain."
Namibia outlawed the export of unprocessed ores last year, a policy aiming to capture more value from mining activities within the country. ■
