Country's annual export of copper to China reaches $70 million
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan's annual export of copper (Mineral product) to China is expected to reach around dollar 70 million by the end of December.
The export of copper was amounted to $48 million during January 2005 to August, 2005, according to the Chinese Custom Authority. "We hope the export will reach worth $70 million by December, 2005, end of the Chinese calendar year, said a senior Pakistani official in Beijing.
As compared to the previous year, the export of copper from the Saindek mineral project was showing an upward trend, he added. China will also get a big quantity of zinc and lead from Pakistan, said Wang Jianjun, a senior executive of Chinese Zhuzhou Smelting Company.
The company would take delivery of 50,000 tons of zinc-in-concentrate and 20,000 tons of lead a year from the Duddar mine in Pakistan, that is due to start production in 2007Zhuzhou owns a stake of less than 40 per cent of the mine, he said, but would take its entire output. The majority owner of the mine is the State-owned China Metallurgical Construction Corp.
In an interview with APP, another official said China will be spending $25 million to further expand the existing production capacity of Saindak project.
This is part of growing cooperation between the two countries in the mineral sector. The expansion project will be completed within a period of one year. It will further enhance its production capacity to 30 percent.
Meanwhile, an official of MRDL Company of China said that the company is increasing its cooperation with Pakistan in the mineral sector. MRDL is a subsidiary of Metallurgical Construction Company of China (MCC) operating in the Saindak Copper-Gold project, with an initial investment of $26 million since August 2003.
He said, the Sino-Pak co-operation in the mineral sector has opened up new business prospects and it is hoped that the Saindak will ontribute tremendously in promoting their economic ties. The MCC and Pakistan have already signed an agreement to develop Duddar Lead Zinc project in Lasbela (Balochistan) with an investment of $70 million. The company will produce 132,000 tons of Lead and Zinc metals concentrate for exports annually.
He hoped that the Chinese companies will prefer to import copper;s from Pakistan, which have its competitive advantage both quality and price-wise.