The four-year credit facility would be worth more than $31-million and replaces the $7-million bridging and the $25,4-million bridging loan that ZCI provided to ACU in May.

In May, ZCI increased its stake in the copper-miner to 82 percent after finalising a share subscription.
African Copper fell victim to the commodity price crash and went into care and maintenance early last year which was followed by a hotly disputed takeover bid between Natasa Mining and Zambia Copper.

However, the company whose flagship asset is the Mowana mine, resumed operations again in August 2010, after it had received funding from mining investment firm, ZCI.

The recapitalisation would help African Copper's operations to grow to their full potential, the company said.
Mowana is likely to advance to steady state nameplate production through the coming quarters, the base-metals miner said in a statement.

Last week African Copper announced that it will    install a mobile crushing unit and amend the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) at its Mowana mine to remove bottlenecks hampering the ramp-up to full capacity.

Since its re-opening in August the company reached "encouraging" levels of production in October and November, but lower plant availability impacted on output in December and January.

Jordan Soko, Executive Director of the Company, said: "Starting in late August 2009 we have successfully reinstated production, reaching encouraging levels in October and November.

Since then, the team has moved proactively to identify and address the issues that were accentuated by the rains in December. We're confident that once the mobile crushing unit is in place, we will continue the ramp up towards full capacity."

Copper recoveries increased in October and November, reaching 57.3 percent in November, in line with the company's targeted recovery rate of 57 percent, before declining, together with ore processed, due to lower Secondary and Tertiary plant availability in December and January caused by high crusher liner wear and heavy rain that adversely affected the consistency of the ore and hindered the flow of material from stockpiles.

" In addition, plant throughput was cut by the inability of the horizontal belt filter to consistently handle and produce dry tailings," said Soko.

The company says management has now moved quickly to address these two bottlenecks that are currently preventing the mine from ramping up towards full plant capacity.

" The company has placed an order for the rental of a mobile crushing unit, which is a quick and cost-effective way to temporarily bypass the Secondary and Tertiary crushing plant while work is carried out to incorporate an improved feed arrangement for these crushers.  "The mobile crushing unit will have a crushing capacity equivalent to the current Secondary and Tertiary crushing plant in order to process the appropriate volumes whilst the primary crusher continues to function well. Delivery and installation of the mobile crusher unit is expected to be completed within four weeks," he said.