(Minews) - A new state-owned company in China is working to restart production at the mothballed facilities of failed Yantai Penghui Copper Industry Co Ltd in northeastern Shandong province, two sources said.
State-owned Penghui Copper, a medium-sized smelter, halted production in December 2014 after running out of cash.
The new company, Yantai Guorun Copper, would rent the facilities and land from banks that took over Penghui's assets after it defaulted on loans, the sources said.
Guorun was aiming to restart production in June, although some legal problems needed to be resolved, such as getting a production license, said a source with direct knowledge of the operations of both Guorun and Penghui. He declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
He said that, at current costs, copper could be produced at a profit using the idle capacity.
Guorun, like Penghui, is controlled by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Yantai city, the source said.
Calls to Penghui Copper were not answered.
The Penghui facilities are capable of producing up to 120,000 tonnes of refined copper a year. That total would represent 1.6 percent of China's output, based on latest official data.
Guorun had already arranged to import up to three shipments of raw material copper concentrate in preparation for the restart, said a source whose firm had been a supplier to Penghui.
