Zijin Mining has stated that on January 23, 2026, Phase 2 of the Julong Copper Mine project was officially completed and put into production. Based on the existing mining and processing scale of 150,000 t/d, an additional production scale of 200,000 t/d will be newly added to Julong Copper Mine, resulting in an overall production scale of 350,000 t/d.
After Julong Phase 2 Project reaches the designated production capacity, the annual ore mining and processing scale of the Julong Copper Mine will increase from 45 Mt to 105 Mt. The annual mine-produced copper output will increase from 190,000 t in 2025 to approximately 300,000 t to 350,000 t (the mine-produced copper output is expected to reach 300,000 t in 2026); the annual mine-produced molybdenum output will increase from 8,000 t in 2025 to approximately 13,000 t; and the annual mine-produced silver output will increase from 109 t in 2025 to approximately 230 t.
The Julong Copper Mine will become the largest copper mine in China and also a world-class super-large copper mine with the highest altitude and the lowest cut-off grade globally. The Julong Copper Mine is situated in a high-altitude, extremely cold and oxygen-deficient area at over 5,000 m above sea level, where the natural geographical conditions are harsh and the working conditions are unfavourable. The difficulty for construction management is extremely high.
Zijin states: “Since the company acquired and took the lead in the construction and operation of the Julong Copper Mine in June 2020, it has leveraged its strong full-process self-initiated technologies and engineering R&D innovation capabilities, as well as the Zijin spirit of ‘perseverance, entrepreneurship, innovation.’ The completion of construction and commencement of production of the Phase 1 project was realised within only approximately 18 months. Since the commencement of construction of the Julong Phase 2 Project, the company has again completed construction and put the project into production within approximately 18 months.”
At present, the company is further planning for the implementation of the phase 3 project of the Julong Copper Mine. If the project is approved by the relevant government authorities, the final mining altitude of the Phase 3 project will be lowered from 4,452 m under the Julong Phase 2 Project to 3,880 m. The copper reserves available for development within the boundary will exceed 20 Mt, with the annual ore mining and processing volume reaching approximately 200 Mt. This will make the Julong Copper Mine the largest copper mine in the world by then in terms of mining and processing scale, with an annual copper output of approximately 600,000 t after reaching the designated production capacity.
According to the resource reserves filed by the Julong Copper Mine with the natural resources management authorities in 2024, the cumulative identified copper metal resources volume of the Julong Copper Mine was 25.88 Mt, which was approximately 2.5 times the verified copper metal resources volume of 10.41 Mt at the time of acquisition by the company. This makes the Julong Copper Mine the largest copper mine in China in terms of the filed resources volume. Additionally, the Julong Copper Mine has 1.672 Mt of associated molybdenum metal resources volume with an average grade of 0.019%, and 15,145 t of silver metal with an average grade of 1.68 g/t.
The company’s wholly-owned subsidiary and Zangge Mining Co Ltd, a listed company held by the company, hold an aggregate of 80.88% interest in the Julong Copper Mine. The proportion of direct and indirect interest owned by the company is 58.16%.
Zijin concludes: “The completion of construction and commencement of production of the Julong Phase 2 Project will significantly enhance the comprehensive strength of the company’s copper segment. The Julong Copper Mine, alongside the company’s core copper projects in Serbia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have become three growth drivers for the copper industry development. In addition, the successive construction, production commencement, technological upgrade and capacity expansion of several other key copper projects of the company will drive a sustained growth in mine-produced copper production of the company, which is of great significance to the consolidation of the company’s leading position in the global copper industry and the achievement of its strategic goal of becoming a leading global mining company.”
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