Kaz Minerals CEO says copper demand will “not decline significantly”

“As a result of the East Region’s solid operational performance and cost control measures we are on track to achieve our full year copper production guidance at a reduced gross cash cost”.

Those adjustments were based on a tenge rate of 170-198 per dollar, the miner said.

Previously, the tenge had traded within a band against the US dollar but Astana scrapped it to allow the currency to float freely.

Kaz shares were up 13 percent as of 1045 GMT, outperforming a 2 percent rise in the FTSE 350 mining index.

The London-listed company said first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding special items, totalled $88 million – down from $195 million in the corresponding period previous year.

Commodity stocks have been badly bruised by a slowdown in China, the world’s largest metals consumer.

KAZ Minerals reaffirmed that it remains on target to produce between 80,000 tons and 85,000 tons of copper cathode despite a fire at its Bozshakol growth project on August. 14. The company said the decline in revenue principally reflected the lower pricing for copper and a decrease in sales volumes and the realised price for silver granule. “We believe demand for copper will not decline significantly in the medium term”, CEO Oleg Novachuk told journalists in a conference call. This has pushed out the commissioning of the project to the first quarter of 2016 from the fourth quarter of this year with no impact on its capital budget.

Kaz implemented a restructuring of it business past year, in response to lower copper prices and shrinking margins.