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TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed copper and cobalt Katanga Mining on Friday posted a second quarter net loss of $57,5-million, compared with a $9,9-million loss in the same period last year.

The net loss figure included a one-time restructuring expense of $15,9-million

Sales for the quarter were $62,3-million, comprising $47,9-million for copper cathode, $14-million for cobalt metal, and $0,4-million for cobalt concentrate sales, the firm said in a statement.

In the second quarter of 2008, Katanga reported total net sales for the quarter of $48,9-million.

Katanga operates and is expanding a large copper/cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and said on Friday that it expects the Phase Two refurbishment of its existing facilities, to a production capacity of 70 000 t/y of copper and 4 000 t/y of cobalt, to be completed under budget, and in the third quarter.

The roaster will be commissioned in September, one month later than planned, due to a delay with the delivery of refractory supplies.

However, the remainder of the Phase Two project, including the refurbishment of the ferric removal system, the refurbishment of mills CM1 and BM1 and the installation of a fume extraction system in the copper leach house, is expected to be on schedule.

Last month, the firm signed an amended joint venture agreement with DRC State miner Gécamines, bringing the company's government contract review process to an end, which will likely help improve investor confidence.

The company also closed a $250-million rights offering in July.

Katanga scaled back its operations last year to cushion the effects of low metals prices and shareholder Glencore agreed late in December to underwrite a convertible $100-million loan facility, as well as an amendment to an existing $165,3-million loan.

In April this year, Katanga announced it would receive another $50-million bridging loan from Glencore, to tide it over until the rights offering was completed.

The bridging loan has since been repaid, from the proceeds of the rights offering.

In the second quarter, Katanga mined 255 129 t of ore from the underground KTO mine, with an average copper grade of 4,02% and cobalt grade of 0,51%. This represented a 32% increase on the previous quarter.

At the openpit T17 operation, 425 372 t of ore was produced, with a copper grade of 1,29% and a cobalt grade of 0,83%.

The Kamoto concentrator processed 476 750 t of ore from both the underground and the open pit mines, from which 46 447 t of concentrate was produced, an increase from the first quarter due to the increase in underground and open pit extraction and commissioning of the CM3 mill in March, Katanga said.

The refurbishment of the CM1 and BM1 mills is continuing and remains on schedule.

At the Luilu processing plant, the company produced 9 516 t of copper cathode and 595 t of cobalt metal during the second quarter (a 9% and 22% increase on the previous quarter production respectively) following the refurbishment of the leach residue flotation system and improvements that are currently under way to the design of the bus-bars.

Edited by: Liezel Hill