By: Reuters

Vedanta's VDAN.NS Konkola Copper Mines has started a 60-day shutdown of its Nchanga smelter in Zambia for maintenance and repairs, it said on Tuesday.

KCM said the repairs and maintenance are aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, reliability and long-term production performance.

The company produced 80,215 metric tons of copper in 2025, according to the mines ministry.

The scheduled shutdown is part of the company's broader modernisation strategy, designed to lift its output towards a target of 300,000 tons per year by 2030.

That fits within Zambia's ambition to raise national output to 3 million tons by 2031 from 890,346 tons in 2025.

The Nchanga smelter shutdown means three of Zambia's major processing plants will undergo extended maintenance between June and mid-September, with the Mopani and Chambishi plants also undergoing shutdowns.

That could tighten copper and sulphuric acid production at a time when the Iran war has also disrupted global supplies of sulphuric acid, critical in the processing of copper and cobalt.

KCM said it will continue supplying acid to its Nchanga tailings leach plant, which recovers copper from stockpiled waste, from external sources and its own 500 ton-per-day acid plant at Nchanga.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Nelson Banya and Jan Harvey)