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Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) was seeking a new waiver of Zambia's 10% copper concentrate export duty, covering only material that domestic smelters could not process because of its metallurgical characteristics, spokesperson Dr John Kunda told Fastmarkets. The company had exported its entire 12,541-tonne duty-free quota before the suspension ended on September 30, Kunda added.
KCM was engaging the relevant ministries to secure the waiver, Kunda told Fastmarkets on October 1. “As a smelter, KCM’s intent is to beneficiate the concentrates within the country, except in cases where, due to metallurgical characteristics, the concentrates cannot be processed, or when the smelter is undergoing a maintenance shutdown,” Kunda said.
He did not say which ministries, what volume or period KCM was seeking, whether an application had been submitted, or when a decision was expected.
KCM sold only concentrates that could not be processed by its own smelter or other local smelters, and bought third-party concentrates case by case to balance processing capacity, he added.
Duty suspension ends
Zambia first suspended the duty in August 2025 and extended the suspension in June to September 30, covering 271,742 tonnes of copper concentrate, to help clear stockpiles while major smelters underwent extended maintenance.
Mopani Copper Mines, which is 51% owned by International Resources Holding (IRH) unit Delta Mining and 49% by ZCCM Investments Holdings (ZCCM-IH), held the largest quota under the waiver, at 100,000 tonnes.
Zambia’s Ministry of Finance, Mopani and Barrick did not respond to Fastmarkets’ questions on whether further waivers had been sought by the time of publication.
Smelter restart
The shutdown of KCM’s Nchanga smelter began on June 1 and the smelter restarted on September 13, Kunda said. KCM announced the restart on September 21.
The shutdown had initially been scheduled to last 60 days, but detailed inspections identified additional critical work, KCM said in September.
The rehabilitation cost about $40 million, which was close to the original estimate of around $35 million, Kunda said.
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Sulfuric acid output
Sulfuric acid production at the smelter had resumed, and all of it was consumed by KCM’s tailings leach plant, with none sold externally, Kunda said.
In late May, KCM said it would continue supplying acid to its Nchanga tailings leach plant during the shutdown from external sources and from its own 500 tonne per day acid plant.
A trader told Fastmarkets in September that the bottleneck for KCM’s leaching operations had been acid availability from its captive smelter.
In the seaborne market, the assessed price for sulfuric acid 96-98%, spot price, cfr Chile was $355-375 per tonne on Thursday October 1, down by 5.2% from $370-400 on September 3, when Fastmarkets launched the monthly assessment.
Tailings leach plant
KCM signed a $498 million engineering, procurement and construction contract with China Nerin Engineering on September 17 for a tailings leach plant at Chingola with annual production capacity of about 70,000 tonnes, Mining.com.au reported.
The plant would be financed through a combination of internal accruals, shareholder funding and external project financing, Kunda said. He described the project as complementing Vedanta Resources’ ongoing $1 billion investment in KCM, which includes the Konkola Deep Mining Project.
KCM had deployed $705 million of the investment committed under the 2023 shareholders’ agreement, Kunda said.
KCM has not disclosed a construction timetable or expected commissioning date for the plant.
Copper production targets
KCM’s target of 300,000 tonnes of copper per year was set for 2031, as previously indicated, and the extended smelter shutdown would not change any previous guidance, Kunda said.
CopperTech Metals said in November 2025 that it aimed to raise integrated production to 300,000 tonnes per year by 2031, from 140,000 tonnes in 2026.
The Konkola Deep Mining Project was progressing on schedule, with mine development to support infrastructure construction under way and procurement of major infrastructure packages in progress, Kunda said. Full ramp-up was expected by 2031, he added.
KCM produced 80,215 tonnes of copper in 2025, according to Zambia’s Mines Ministry.
Zambia exported 890,346 tonnes of copper in 2025 and aims to raise national output to 3 million tonnes per year by 2031.
CopperTech Metals, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, holds 79.4% of KCM, Kunda confirmed. ZCCM Investments Holdings holds the remaining 20.6%.
Fastmarkets calculated the weekly copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific, the midpoint between smelter and trader buying levels, at $(269.90) per tonne on Friday October 2, down by $2.50 per tonne from $(267.40) per tonne on September 25.
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