The Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company intends to increase copper output to 380 thousand tons per year in 3-5 years.
According to the UMMC CEO Andrey Kositsyn, in 2016 the company output dropped by 5% YoY, to 350 thousand tons, or some 40% of all the copper production in Russia. The reason is the decrease of copper content in ore from 1.6% to 1.2%.
UMMC believes that the decrease in the ore quality, which the world producers are facing now, will not allow copper prices to drop below $4500 per ton. This year the company expects copper to cost $5 thousand per ton.
By 2021 UMMC intends to increase zinc output by 15% because of the new deposits. In 2016 the company produced 253 thousand tons of zinc and expects the production to reach 290 thousand tons in 4 years. (Ukrainian metal)