BEIJING (Asian Metal) 14 May 21 - Henan Jinli Gold and Lead Group Co., Ltd., one of main copper matte producers in central China, plans to resume full production of copper matte on May 20 and expects total output of around 1,500t for this month, a source from the company told Asian Metal.

According to the source, the company suspended operation of its two copper matte production lines one by one from late April due to the short supply of raw materials. "With the raw material supply gradually increasing, we restarted one production line on May 8 and the other line is expected to resume operation on May 20 when we would run at full capacity," said the source, adding that they might produce just about 1,500t of copper matte in May, down by about 1,000t from April.

The company owns two copper matte production lines in total with a combined capacity of 32,000tpy, and produced about 24,000t in 2020 and around 8,300t in the first four months of 2021, holding no stocks in hand now. The company mainly sells copper matte to blister copper producers in Henan, Jiangxi and Liaoning.

Mainstream price coefficients for copper matte 30%min were 87-88% in the local market on Thursday, basically in line with early this month.