(Yicai) Jan. 26 -- Shares of Zijin Mining Group climbed after the Chinese mining giant put into operation the second phase of its Julong Copper Mine, which became the country’s largest copper mine.

Zijin Mining [SHA: 601899] closed 5.2 percent up at CNY39.50 (USD5.67) in Shanghai today. Its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 2899] was trading up 3.5 percent at HKD41.82 (USD5.36) as of 3.15 p.m.

The second phase of the Julong Mine was put into operation on Jan. 23, expected to raise the mine’s daily ore mining and processing capacity to 350,000 tons from 150,000 tons, and related annual capacity to 105 million tons from 45 million tons, Zijin announced late on Jan. 23.

The annual copper output of the Julong Mine will also climb to between 300,000 tons and 350,000 tons from 190,000 tons, the firm noted, adding that the mine’s copper production will reach 300,000 tons this year.

Moreover, the Julong Mine’s annual output of associated metal molybdenum and associated silver is also expected to surge to 13,000 tons from 8,000 tons and 230 tons from 109 tons, respectively, according to Zijin.

The completion and commissioning of the second phase of the Julong Mine will significantly enhance the comprehensive strength of Zijin’s copper business and form a network with its mining projects in Serbia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, thus consolidating the company’s leading position in the global copper mining industry and making it a first-rate mining group, Zijin pointed out.

The Julong Mine sits in a high-altitude, oxygen-deficient area located at an elevation of 5,000 meters in the city of Changdu in Xizang Autonomous Region. It is the world’s highest-altitude and largest super-large porphyry copper mine in terms of registered reserve of resources. Zijin started the development and construction of the mine in 2020.

The proven copper metal resources of the Julong Mine stand at 25.9 million tons, with associated resources of 1.7 million tons of molybdenum and 15,145 tons of silver. Zijin and its subsidiaries hold a total 81 percent stake in the Julong Mine, with the proportion of equity attributable to Zijin exceeding 58 percent. 

Zijin is already planning the third phase of the Julong Mine. Once the project is completed and put into operation, the mine’s copper reserves available for development will exceed 20 million tons, with an annual ore processing capacity of around 200 million tons and an annual copper output of about 600,000 tons, which will make it the world’s largest copper mine in terms of processing scale.

Editor: Futura Costaglione