Zambia's leading copper producer, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), has discovered new copper deposits consisting of five million tons of copper.

"We are just cleaning the area so that we can start mining at this new site," head of geology Chakraborty Samarjit told journalists here Friday.

He said the discovery followed KCM's extension exploitation works that have been going on at the new Fitwadla open pit mine in Chililabombwe town in the Copperbelt Province.

The copper deposits have been discovered on a 500-meter deep area and the mining process is expected to be carried out in the next three years, said Samarjit.

The new discovery is part of KCM's expansion program since its acquisition of the company following the privatization of mines by the Zambian government in the early 1990s.

KCM is co-owned by Vedanta Resources Plc, a mining company listed on the London Stock Exchange, Zambia Copper Investment and Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH).

The company turned out 200,000 tons of copper cathode in 2004 and is expected to boost production to 250,000 tons this year.

Zambia is one of the biggest copper producing countries in the world. Spurred by the bullish copper price in the world market, copper mining companies in the country are investing heavily in a bid to churn out more copper to cater for the market demand. Zambia's copper production in 2004 stood at 400,000 tons, 14 percent higher than that in the previous year.

Industry analysts predict that the country's copper production is expected to rebound to 700,000 tons by the year 2008, the ever highest level recorded in the 1970s.

Source: Xinhua