Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) expects to produce the first copper from its Kabwe project in Zambia early in the new year.
Having recently acquired the Sable refinery, the aim is to build Kabwe into a central processing facility for third party material in Zambia.
Jubilee estimates there are 6.4mln tonnes of surface tailings in the region surrounding Kabwe containing zinc, vanadium and lead as well as copper.
Leon Coetzer, Jubilee’s chief executive, said: “Zambia has a rich history of copper mining and a huge amount of potential in the mining waste processing space.
"The acquisition of Kabwe acts as both an entry point for Jubilee into the country, and a potentially highly profitable operation on which to base further acquisitions.”
Initial production from the copper circuit is expected to be 250 tonnes of plated copper cathode metal per month, rising to 400tpm.
First zinc and vanadium products are scheduled for the second and third quarter of 2020 with the production of lead concentrate targeted for the fourth quarter.
Kabwe will be Jubilee's fifth tailings preprocessing operation with the group currently producing predominately chrome and platinum.