Chinese Copper Cos. Get Afghan Rights

The companies have won the right to extract high-quality copper from the Anyak copper field near Kabul, state-run metal producer and contractor China Metallurgical said in a statement Thursday on its Web site.

Anyak has an estimated total deposits of 11 million tons of copper. China Metallurgical said it expects to produce 220,000 tons of copper a year from the mine.

Jiangxi Copper, China's largest integrated copper producer by output, said it will have the right to buy at least half of the copper generated by the project. The company, which has shares traded in Hong Kong, said in an announcement it will be responsible for at least 20 percent of the cost to set up a joint venture with China Metallurgical Group to develop the mine.