Kiwara says raises Zambia copper resource deposits

JOHHANESBURG, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Mining exploration company Kiwara Plc KIWA.LKWRJ.J said on Wednesday it had raised the estimate of copper ore resources at its Kalumbila project in Zambia and would start a feasibility study.

Zambia, Africa's largest copper producer, has awarded exploration licences to several foreign companies, in a bid to raise total national output to 1.0 million tonnes by 2011 from 600,000 tonnes this year.

Kiwara said a copper resource estimation report by international consulting firm Snowden showed the Kalumbila project in northwestern Zambia had inferred mineral resource of 1.45 billion tonnes in copper ore, revised from 1.38 billion tonnes.

"Kiwara is moving rapidly on to a feasibility study and to which end we are already employing drills on closer definition for mining reserve purposes," Kiwara chairman Colin Bird said.

Brian Christie, Kiwara's corporate finance consultant, told Reuters the feasibility study would enable the firm to raise project finance and then come up with a mine development plan.

The World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corp (IFC), said in July that it would invest up to $15 million in the equity of Kiwara, to help it develop mineral deposits in Zambia. (Reporting by Shapi Shacinda, editing by Anthony Barker)