(Yicai) Jan. 26 -- Zijin Mining Group’s shares jumped after China’s largest mining firm said the second phase of its Julong Copper Mine project has begun production, making it the country’s largest mine for the metal widely used in the building, electronics, and auto industries.

Zijin Mining [SHA: 601899] closed 5.2 percent higher at CNY39.50 (USD5.67) per share in Shanghai today, while its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 2899] added 4.4 percent to end at HKD42.18 (USD5.41).

Julong’s second phase went into production on Jan. 23, raising the mine’s daily ore mining and processing capacity to 350,000 tons from 150,000 tons and increasing its annual capacity to 105 million tons from 45 million tons, Zijin announced late on Jan. 23.

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

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

Commissioning of the second phase will boost Zijin’s copper division and, together with its copper projects in Serbia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, forms a three-pillar strategy that will help consolidate its global leadership and support its ambition to be a top-tier mining group, the firm said.

The Julong project is located in Changdu in Xizang Autonomous Region, at a 5,000-meter elevation in a cold and oxygen-thin environment. It is both the world’s highest-altitude and biggest super-large porphyry copper deposit and, in terms of registered reserves, is China’s largest such deposit. Zijin began developing the mine in 2020.

It has proven copper resources of 25.9 million tons, along with 1.7 million tons of molybdenum and 15,145 tons of silver. Zijin and its subsidiaries have a combined 81 percent stake in the project, with the share of equity attributable to Zijin just over 58 percent. 

Zijin is already planning a third phase to lift Julong’s developable copper reserves to more than 20 million tons, annual ore processing to about 200 million tons, and annual copper output to 600,000 tons, which would make it the world’s largest copper mine by processing scale.

Editor: Futura Costaglione