Flooding worsens in Zambia

A worsening underground flood at Zambia’s Nkana mine has stopped copper production there altogether.

The mine is operated by Mopani Copper Mines which is a consortium consisting of Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals‘ (FM-T) 16.9% stake, Swiss-based Glencore International‘s 73.1% stake and Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines‘ (ZCCM) 10% stake.

In Toronto on Dec. 28, First Quantum was up 6 to $60.89 on roughly 400,000 shares traded.

Flooding began earlier this month and was responsible for a cut in production, but a power surge damaged water pumps resulting in the complete flooding of the central shaft.

There is no word on the extent to which the shutdown will effect production.

Earlier this year the company gave guidance of 200,000 tonnes of finished copper for 2006.

While a company spokesperson told news agencies that repairing the pumps was proving difficult, she said other pumps were trying to be secured from Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) Zambia’s largest copper producer.