China Western Mining to Start Up Tibet Copper Plant

Western Mining Co, China's seventh-largest copper miner, said on Wednesday it will launch trial production on Friday at a smelter at its Yulong copper mine, the country's largest copper deposit in Tibet.

The plant will produce at most 2,000t of refined copper by the end of the year if the trial run is successful, according to a company statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

By 2010, the plant is expected to have production capacity of 20,000t, the company said.

Yulong has proven reserves of more than 6.5 million tonnes of copper in ore and prospective reserves of ten million tonnes. Western Mining holds a 58% stake in the mine.

Western Mining shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange were trading at CNY6.78 on Wednesday morning, down 20% this month and trailing the Shanghai Composite Index's 12% decline.

A unit of Goldman Sachs owns just over 8% of Western Mining.

By Rujun Shen, Reuters