China is planning to build a sheet copper production base with an annual output of 100,000 tons of high-performance and high-precision sheet copper, believed to be the largest of its kind in Asia.
The base will be built at the Nanchang High and New Technology Development Zone in east China's Jiangxi Province. Entrusted by the State Development Planning Commission, a group of Chinese experts is making a technical appraisal of the project.
Jiangxi was chosen for the site because it is rich in copper deposits, adjacent to the Zhujiang Delta, Jiangsu Province and Hong Kong, the largest sheet copper consumers in the region. Moreover, local enterprises are well equipped and have experienced workers.
Construction of the project is scheduled to begin around the end of 2003 and will be competed in 18 months at a cost of 1.24 billion yuan (US$149 million).
Operation of the base will reduce China's imports of sheet copper and promote development of the copper industry in Jiangxi, said a specialist.
(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2002)
|