Last year ended for the Group «Kazakhmys» is quite successful — the company issued 294 000 tonnes of the red metal in the cathode equivalent, which is consistent with the adopted annual plan and repeats the results of 2012, when copper production amounted to 292.2 thousand tons. In 2013, the number of extracted ore company was 39.2 million tonnes, indicating that the increase in production by 4% compared with 2012. Get these results was possible thanks to an increase in the number of extracted ore at the mines «Nurkazgan» and «Konyrat». According to last year's results of the copper content in the ore mined at an average of 0.99 percent. As for the by-products produced by «Kazakhmys», the volume of production of zinc concentrate, silver, and gold were even higher than previously planned indicators. In particular, last year the volume of silver reached 14.3 million ounces, higher than in 2012, when production was 12.6 million ounces. Number of produced zinc concentrate amounted to 134.1 thousand tons, and the amount of gold reached 107,500 ounces.
In addition, the continuing development of «Bozymchak» field, carried out starting and adjustment works, which should be finished in the IV quarter of this year, and in 2013 already produced pre-commercial obtain ore.
The British company «Antofagasta Plc», which is one of the largest producers of the red metal, and not losing ground, continuing to increase the pace of development of production — in the past year, the amount of copper it produced in Chile amounted to 721.2 thousand tons, which is 1.6% more rather than the past, and is a record. This growth was made possible by increasing the volume of copper production at all mines owned by the company. As for the by-products, there are several indicators declined. In particular, the volume of gold produced fell by 2%, which amounted to 293,800 ounces, or 9.1 m. Due to lower ore grades at the Chilean mine «Esperanza». An improvement in the production of molybdenum — 26% (up to 9000 tonnes).
Despite this, the final result is greater than the planned data, as forecasts for 2013 were copper production of 700 thousand tons, gold — 260 thousand ounces of molybdenum — 8000 tons. The company's plans for 2014 production of the red metal is 700 thousand tons, 7500 tons of molybdenum, 270 thousand ounces of gold.