Kazakhmys says copper South Mine restarts after flood

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Kazakh copper miner Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) said on Friday that its South Mine in the Zhezkazgan complex has started producing and should be back to full production by the end of the year.

Kazakhmys said in October there had been a flood at the mine which had led to an interruption in transporting extracted ore from the mines.

"Following a successful recovery plan, the impact of the flooding on the operations at the main shaft has now ended," the company said in a statement.

"The mine is ramping up and should be back to full output by the end of the year, slightly ahead of expectations."

South Mine accounts for approximately 525,000 tonnes of ore output each month, with an average grade of 0.7 percent copper.

The company's shares were down nearly 3 percent at 1156 GMT.

In July, the miner, whose operations are in Kazakhstan, said total copper cathode output rose 2 percent in the first half of 2007 to 190,428 tonnes, and it was on target to deliver slightly higher production for the full year compared with 2006.

Copper cathode production from its own ore comprised around 163,500 tonnes in the first six months.

(Reporting by Pratima Desai; Editing by Peter Blackburn)