Central Asia Metals Seeks to Ship First Copper Cathode Next Week


Central Asia Metals Plc (CAML), which two weeks ago began copper output at a project inKazakhstan, plans to ship its first metal next week to a customer in Turkey.

The company is completing an off-take accord with a trader to ship the metal, Chief Executive Officer Nick Clarke said in a phone interview today in London. He declined to name the trader or the customer because agreements haven’t yet been signed.

Central Asia is planning to produce about 5,000 metric tons of copper cathode, the finished form of the metal, from a waste dump at its Kounrad project in Kazakhstan this year and ramp up to full capacity of 10,000 tons next year, Clarke said.

The producer, which also owns copper, molybdenum and gold projects in Mongolia, built Kounrad for about $42 million, less than the $47 million it estimated, Clarke said. The company may decide by the year-end to commission a second plant in Kounrad, begin construction of the 10,000 ton-capacity factory in spring next year and start output at the end of the summer of 2014.

The company, based in London, is in talks with “a couple of potential buyers” to sell its gold and molybdenum projects in Mongolia, Clarke said. “We should have firm offers by the end of June,” he said. Cutfield Freeman & Co. is advising the company on the sale, Clarke said.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net

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