With an annual output of 100,000 tons of copper, China’s second largest copper mine sets sail

On December 18, 2020, the Yulong Copper Mine, the world's highest elevation and the second largest single copper mine in China, was officially launched. The reconstruction and expansion project of Yulong Copper Mine started in April 2019 to the formal production. It took less than two years before and after. The project has an annual mining and dressing capacity of 18 million tons, and generates an annual benefit of about 2 billion yuan. It is expected to reach full capacity in 2022. After production, its scale will become the second largest producing mine in China after Dexing Copper Mine.

Yulong Copper Mine is located in the Changdu area of ​​Tibet Autonomous Region, with an altitude of 4569-5118 meters. It is a super-large porphyry and contact metasomatic copper deposit. The total resources within the scope of the mineral rights are 1.027 billion tons of ore and 6.58 million tons of copper. The amount of molybdenum metal is 400,000 tons. Its copper metal reserves rank second in China, second only to the Qulong copper mine, and its deposit size and economic value are huge.

The Yulong copper mine project is divided into two phases. The first phase was completed in 2016. The wet and emerging mining capacity has reached 2.3 million tons per year, and the copper metal production capacity is about 30,000 tons; the second phase of the renovation and expansion project was fully launched in April 2019 Construction, after reaching full production capacity in 2022, it can achieve an annual increase of 100,000 tons of copper metal, making it the second largest in China, second only to Dexing Copper Mine.

Currently, Western Mining holds 56% of its shares and Zijin Mining holds 21%. The second phase of Yulong Copper Mine is of great significance to the two companies.

After the second phase of the Yulong Copper Mine is put into operation, Western Mining expects that the output of mineral copper rights will increase from 80,000 tons to 100,000 tons from 2021 to 2022, and the main business will gradually change to copper. The industrial layout of the western mining industry with "copper as the master" is gradually becoming clear. The western mining industry, which is deeply engaged in the non-ferrous industry, may enter the "harvest period".

In June, Zijin Mining acquired a 50.1% stake in Tibet Julong Copper for approximately 3.883 billion yuan. Tibet Julong Copper holds Qulong Copper Polymetallic Mine, Rongmu Cola Copper Mine and Zhibula Copper Polymetallic Mine III. According to the recorded resource reserve report, the total amount of copper metal in the three mining areas is 7,957,600 tons, and the total amount of associated molybdenum metal is 370,600 tons. After the second phase of Yulong Copper Mine was put into operation, it has laid a solid foundation for Zijin Mining to develop Julong Copper.

As the base metal with the strongest macro attributes, copper's future trend is closely related to the recovery process of the global macro economy.

In 2021, the global economic recovery will continue to deepen, and the liquidity environment will remain accommodative, leading to a moderate rebound in inflation. The increase in copper mine supply is limited, and copper demand at home and abroad is expected to be repaired simultaneously. The fundamentals of supply and demand will maintain a tight balance. At the same time, the inventory will continue to maintain a historical low. It is expected that copper prices will further open up space in 2021 .