China's Zijin Mining Group announced on Friday that it would go ahead with the second phase of a massive expansion of its Julong copper mine in Xizang Province after receiving government approval.
The license will allow Zijin to increase the mine's production capacity to 350,000 tonnes per day by 2025. Once the Julong expansion project is completed, the asset will be the largest single copper operation in China, with ore mining and processing capacity of more than 100 million tons per year.
The total investment required for the project is about 17.5 billion yuan ($2.43 billion), Zijin said. The company added that it has plans to further increase production and capacity at its Xizang coal mine.
Zijin said that if the third phase of the expansion is approved by the local government, the Julong mine could increase its annual output to about 200m tonnes, making it the world's largest single copper mine.
Cicc is China's largest gold miner and one of the country's largest copper producers. The company took control of the Giant Dragon project in 2020 and was up and running just 18 months later.
Zijin has several assets in Tibet, including the Juno copper mine, which it acquired in August 2023. It also owns a controlling stake in lithium producer Lakkor Resources and is the second-largest shareholder in Xizang Yulong Copper and Tianyuan Mining.
