Pre-2021

73.1% Glencore www.glencore.com
16.9% First Quantum www.first-quantum.com
10% ZCCM www.zccm-ih.com.zm  

2021 - 100% ZCCM-IH

Mufulira Copper Smelter

12° 31' 59" S, 28° 13' 56" E

Copper
Isasmelt and P-S Converters

Copper
Isasmelt and P-S Converters

Reported cost of acid plant: US$27 million

Project Fact Sheet - Aveng EPC

December 13, 2013 - MOPANI Copper Mines (MCM)’s Mufulira smelter upgrade project at a cost of US$460 million is earmarked for completion by end of first quarter 2014.  The upgrading of the smelter involving installation of three converters and construction of two acid plants executed under a three-phased programme beginning 2004, once completed is expected to bring to an end the problem of sulphur-dioxide emission that has been a thorn issue in the district.  MCM chief operating officer Johan Jansen said once commissioned, the refurbished Mufulira smelter would vent out three per cent of the sulphur dioxide emission into the atmosphere, which was world standard.  Mr Jansen said this when he gave a presentation on MCM operations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs during an interactive meeting dubbed “Non-Governmental Oarganisations forum” with a consortium of Mufulira-based civil society organisations (CSOs) held in Mufulira on Wednesday.  He said the Mufulira smelter at its inception in 1937 when technology was viewed as cutting edge was venting out 100 sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.  “When we took over running of the mine, we committed ourselves to reduce the emission of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere to world standard and to that effect we embarked on a three-phased program in 2004,” he said.  Mr Jansen said following the first and second phase upgrade exercise conducted between 2004-07 and 2007-9 respectively, the smelter plant was now capturing between 50 and 55 per cent sulphur-dioxide emissions.  He said the third-phase of the upgrade project, which under the initial commitment was scheduled to complete by 2015 but had been fast-trucked and was now set to be completed by end of first quarter 2014, 97 per cent of the sulphur-dioxide emission would be captured.  “The problem of sulphur-dioxide will have been addressed because emission of three per cent into the atmosphere is world standard,” he said.  Meanwhile, Mr. Jansen said MCM was investing $12 million into a new skills school for training of artisan engineers.  He said the school to be built with a capacity of 140 students per intake was earmarked for opening in 2014.  And CSOs regional coordinator Edward Lange expressed happiness with MCM for its effort in contributing to improved wellbeing of the communities through its programs in health, education and sport.  Mr. Lange described the interactive meeting as positive as it was aimed at creating a platform of engagement between the mining firm and CSOs in a quest to improve accountability in the mining sector.

November 15, 2013 - Residents of Mufulira's Kankoyo township say they have suffered serious air pollution due to excessive sulphur dioxide emissions discharged from Mopani Copper Mine's smelter.  But Mopani Copper Mines says it is maintaining its plants diligently without exceeding the approved limits as it was currently capturing 50 per cent of the sulphur dioxide emissions.  Many residents of Kankoyo that travelled to Kitwe in minibuses stormed The Post offices and complained that their health was at serious risk as many people including children were suffering from respiratory infections due to massive sulphur dioxide emissions from MCM's Mufulira smelter.  The residents led by Christopher Nkhata, the chairman of a local environmental organisation called Green and Justice, said people had developed health complications and left the town for other safer places due to excessive sulphur dioxide emissions.  Nkhata said the emissions had become unbearable for the people as some of them were even developing sight problems.  "Because of poverty we cannot do anything but come to the media to complain and pray that some authority somewhere will take action. People are collapsing in the streets due to these emissions. We have people that are asthmatic and they have been forced to relocate. The situation is just unbearable; our children are getting strange infections and failing to breathe properly. We need help from Mopani, the government and all authorities involved," Nkhata said.  He said the residents of Kankoyo wanted Mopani to expedite the process of implementing its new smelter that would capture the sulphur dioxide to protect the lives of the people and the environment.  And responding to a press query, MCM head of public relations Cephas Sinyangwe stated that in order to deal with the problem of sulphur dioxide emissions, Mopani had embarked on a phased modernisation of the smelter through the smelter upgrade project.  Sinyangwe said since completion of phase one of the project in 2006, Mopani had been capturing 50 per cent of the sulphur dioxide emissions.  "The Zambian authorities approved this level of emissions, and we are maintaining the plant diligently to enable us to operate without exceeding this limit. At inception in the year 2000, MCM inherited a smelter that had been discharging 100 per cent sulphur emissions into the atmosphere since it was commissioned in 1937. As part of the conditions for the acquisition of the two assets, Nkana and Mufulira operations, Mopani committed itself to addressing this historical environmental liability over a period of 15 years up to June 2015," Sinyangwe stated.
He stated that the final phase of the smelter upgrade project would be completed by June 2015.  Sinyangwe said due to the importance that Mopani attached to environmental protection and human safety, the company had brought forward the deadline for completion of the project by more than a year.  "We are currently undertaking the third and final phase of the project which would lead to 97 per cent sulphur capture in a few months, which is within internationally acceptable standards," he stated.  He said Mopani proved its commitment to a clean and safe environment by investing approximately US$450 million to put to an end the historical problem of sulphur dioxide emissions.

August 20, 2013 - Government has urged Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) to address the emissions of sulphur dioxide affecting the residents of Mufulira.  Mines, Energy and Water Development Minster Christopher Yaluma said MCM, through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to assist the people of Kankoyo area to repair the damage caused on infrastructure and environment through gas emissions.  Mr Yaluma said after a conducted tour of MCM plant in Mufulira at the weekend. He said MCM should find ways of addressing the issues affecting the people of Kankoyo who had been seriously affected with the emissions of sulphur dioxide.  “We would like to see life brought back in Kankoyo and so as part of CSR of Mopani, the company should do more and help the residents with the rehabilitation of infrastructure development.  “Right now I know Mopani has provided the residents with piped water but we need to see more to assist our people in having a better life,” he said.  Mr Yaluma further commended MCM for the good works that it was doing in ensuring that it provided high safety standards to its employees.  He urged other mining companies in Zambia to emulate MCM investment in order to lift up the Zambian economy.  Mr Yaluma said MCM’s target for reducing sulphur dioxide by 97 percent by December this year once the plant was fully constructed was a welcome move.  He urged other mining companies to emulate MCM so as to increase the production rate.  And MCM chief processing officer Narain Goyal said the new acid plant would be completed by December this year.  Mr Goyal said once the plant is completed, only three percent of sulphur dioxide would remain and described it as a world class standard.

March 12, 2012 - U.K.-listed Glencore International AG has secured equipment to convert sulphur dioxide emissions produced at its Mufulira copper division and aid its plans to make acid for use at its operations, a senior official at the Zambian operation said Monday.  The acquisition of the converter is part of the miner's ongoing $114 million investment into the unit to allow it to manufacture acid, Mopani chief executive Danny Callow said in a statement seen by Dow Jones Newswires.  Copper miners using the solvent extraction electro-winning process require between three and 3.5 tons of sulphuric acid to turn ore into one ton of copper metal.  Mopani is also seeking to capture at least 97% of the emissions from the smelter before they are released into the atmosphere. Mopani presently captures more than 55% of the emissions.  According to Callow's statement, Mopani anticipates completing the smelter improvements by 2013, ahead of the previously anticipated 2015.  It is planned that the smelter improvements will enable Mopani to capture gases from the converters and anode furnaces, once the furnace has been upgraded.  Additionally, Mopani anticipates that the sulphuric acid produced at the mine will supply Mopani's Mufulira West mine leaching project, expected to consume about 400 tons to 550 tons of acid a day, according to company data.  Mopani copper mine is an integrated copper and cobalt producer. Its operations consist of four underground mines, a concentrator and a cobalt plant in the town of Kitwe and an underground mine, concentrator, smelter and refinery in the town of Mufulira.  The capacity of the Mufulira copper smelter is being expanded in a phased approach to 870,000 tons of concentrate by the end of 2010. The current capacity with the new Isa smelt furnace is 650,000 tons of concentrate.

January 15, 2012 - Glencore is facing legal action over pollution caused by its vast and lucrative copper operations in Zambia.  Glencore’s Mopani Copper Mines subsidiary has been a thorn in the firm’s side since its £6billion float in May last year, throwing up allegations of environmental recklessness and tax avoidance, which the company denies.  The Swiss-based firm could find itself dragged through the courts after Zambian campaign group the Centre for Trade Policy and Development demanded the company explain itself or face a lawsuit.  In a letter obtained by the Daily Mail, lawyers for CTPD claim that the ‘leaching’ process used in copper production is causing sulphuric acid to leak into water used by communities living and working near the mine.  CTPD cites two incidents in 2008 and 2011 when residents reported ill effects due to suspected acid in drinking water. The letter warns that Glencore’s ‘mining methods are not consistent with the right to a safe and healthy environment and likely to threaten that right’.  A further complaint relates to the high level of sulphur in the air, which CTPD says has caused respiratory and skin problems.  The Mail witnessed the choking, foul - smelling clouds during a recent visit to the Zambian copperbelt.  CTPD said it would launch legal action in Zambia – or even in London – unless its demands are met. The group wants Mopani to discontinue mining methods that contaminate or pollute the air and submit the mining to an ‘environmental audit’.  It has also asked Mopani to compensate for harm to health and the environment.  Glencore has previously insisted that it is not responsible for the provision of water in the area and points to its use of water testing.  It also says that to close the copper smelter would put thousands out of work.

November 23, 2011 - Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines owned by Glencore International Plc expects to complete work to capture sulphur dioxide emissions at its Mufulira smelter by 2013, it said on Wednesday.  "This is 18 months ahead of the Zambian government's target of 2015," Mopani said in a statement.  On completion of the final phase of the project, around 97 percent of all sulphur dioxide emissions at Mufulira would be captured, it said.  The final phase of the work, already underway, is to install gas capturing equipment and a second acid plant to recycle captured sulphur dioxide as sulphuric acid, the company said.  The new equipment is being installed as each phase of the plant is completed and this has enabled operations to continue without any shutdown, Mopani said.

July 19, 2011 - Zambia's second largest copper and cobalt miner, Mopani Copper Mines, is to start upgrading its ageing Mufulira copper smelter this month following the importation of machinery required for the project, company officials said Tuesday.  A $26 million converter, meant for upgrades to enable the smelter to reduce sulfur emissions, arrived in Zambia over the weekend and its installation is expected to commence next week, a company official told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from the Copperbelt province.   Mopani, a unit of commodity trader Glencore International PLC (GLEN.LN), is installing the new converter as part of its goal to reduce sulfur emissions by 97% in the next four years. The installation is expected to be completed in December. Mopani is also set to install an acid plant at the smelter.  "The arrival of the converter will allow us to proceed with major infrastructure developments which will reduce sulfur emissions at the Mufulira smelter," Mopani Chief Executive Emmanuel Mutati said in a statement.  Mufulira treats concentrates from Mopani Copper Mines units as well as from First Quantum Minerals Ltd.'s (FM.T) Kansanshi Copper Mines in Zambia's North Western province. First Quantum owns a minority stake in Mopani.  Earlier this year Mopani said that it would invest at least $295 million in a new mine shaft at its Nkana division which will extend the lifespan of the mine by 25 years.  Currently, Mopani has the capacity to produce 200,000 tons of copper a year.  Zambia, Africa's largest copper miner by output, is facing a looming shortage of copper treatment facilities as production increases.

June 24, 2011 - Glencore AG International, a Swiss based global leading commodity trader secured USD 26 million for installation of its first convertor to offset the emission of sculpture dioxide fumes into the atmosphere at one of its operations in Zambia.  The convertor shell equipment which has arrived in Zambia and procured by Glencore AG from Richards Bay in South Africa is destined for Mufulira mine in northern Zambia’s copperbelt region, a unit of Mopani Copper Mine and is expected to take 25 days to arrive.   In a statement by company spokesperson, transportation of the 132 tonne converter will take approximately 25 days at a cost of around USD 3m and will take about six months to install and the miner expects it to be fully commissioned by

December 2011.  Other accessories include a Water Cooled Hood and an Off Gas System to facilitate the capture of dust free gas. This process will be assisted subsequently by a second new dedicated gas cooling, cleaning and acid plant which will be operational by April 2015.  The USD 26 million converters was manufactured by Mukand Limited of Thane, Maharashtra state, India while the Water Cooled Hood and Off Gas System have been designed, and are being supplied, by the Swedish firm Outotec. Additional engineering work has been carried out by Worley Parsons.  Before Mopani was privatized in 2000, no sulphur was captured. Sulphur capture now stands at about 50% and Mopani’s emissions reduction program will be completed by 2015 when 97% of all sulphur will be captured.  Earlier Mr Emmanuel Mutati CEO of Mopani Copper Mine said that more than USD 290 million was expected to be invested in the emission-capturing program and make the company environmentally compliant. In reference to the recent action by one of its key lenders, European Investment Fund over failure on tax compliance the action to withhold funding to Mopani Copper Mines in Zambia will not affect its operations.  While the lender had every right to withhold funding on unverified reports of under valuing tax remittance to Zambia Revenue Authority and poor records of copper receipts, the company would still operate normally while allowing the banker to carry out its own investigations into the matter, described as flawed and incorrect. We will not be affected at all, our operations will remain normal despite that action.  According to data, despite the action by EIB, Mopani, through its parent company plans to invest an initial USD 250 million in mitigating atmospheric pollution with sulphur dioxide and general environmental cleanliness with an additional USD 60 million expected to be ploughed in to the project later.  An additional investment earmarked for the mine is a new shaft complex at a cost in excess of US$300 million securing the long term future of the operations, this at a time when the private investors are yet to draw a cent of dividends. Recently the EIB slapped a blanket ban on funding of all projects to Mopani copper mine through its parent company Glencore AG for alleged tax evasion and under declaration of copper production in Zambia.  The EIhad provided Mopani with USD 50 million loan in 2005 to help fund renovation of the Mufulira copper smelter. The loan is due to be fully repaid by the end of 2016. The USD 50 million loan is the only one given to a Glencore entity and was used to partially fund the first phase of the renovation and modernization of the copper smelter at Mufulira mine in northern Zambia to reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide.  According to the EIB, total project costs were USD 130 million with the remaining USD 80 million financed from Glencore's own funds. In 2005, the European Investment Bank signed a finance contract with Mopani Copper Mines, a subsidiary of Glencore, for the amount of USD 50 million to partially fund the first phase of the renovation and modernization of the Mufulira copper smelter, with the aim of reducing the emissions of sulphur dioxide.  A further and final reduction of SO2 and dust emissions was planned for latest 2015, when Mopani Copper Mines would have completed the construction of the second acid plant without co-financing by the lender with a view that the efforts would render the smelter compliant with local and World Bank emission regulations.  The Mufulira smelter was first built in 1937. Prior to privatization in 2000, 100 percent of all SO2 went into the atmosphere. So far the situation has improved since, including notably through the investment financed by EIB's loan to Mopani copper mine for modernization of the copper smelter.  The lender said that the project has successfully established the capacity to eliminate 250,000 tonnes of SO2 a year, materially contributing to the protection of the environment.

December 23, 2010 - One of Zambia's mining firms said that it has managed to reduce its sulphur-dioxide emissions by 55% to mitigate the environmental degradation in some residential areas near the mine, the Zambia Daily Mail reported that mining companies in the southern African nation's Copperbelt province have been accused of polluting the surrounding areas, including rivers due to their poor environment management practices.  Last month, a local court fined one of the mining firms after it was found guilty of discharging toxics into a river which was a source of water supply for locals.  Some environmental activists were concerned about the high levels of sulphur dioxide emissions in some townships of Mufulira district from the mining firms.  But environment watchdog, the Environmental Council of Zambia said that Mopani Copper Mines had managed to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions by 55% from 100% it used to emit into the air.  ECZ northern region manager Patson Zulu was quoted as saying that "The discharge of sulphur dioxide emission into the atmosphere by MCM in Mufulira has reduced by 55%. The mining company has installed an acid plant which is able to capture 55 percent of the gas. This is an achievement in terms of mitigating environmental degradation.”  According to investigations, the townships near the mine had not vegetation because the soil contains high levels of sulphur dioxide while houses had cracks due to mining activities.  Zambia was Africa's top copper producer and the mining industry was responsible for 70% of the country's foreign exchange earnings.  The Zambian government has told the mining firms to play an active law to protect the environment by putting in place effective management policies. Foreign mining companies operating in Zambia include London listed Vedanta Resources Plc, Equinox Minerals, Glencore International AG of Switzerland and Metorex of South Africa, Non-Ferrous Metals of China.