"With a current base of three million tonnes, that represents an average annual increase of approximately 300,000 tonnes," Pearce said.

This compares with global demand for copper in 2004 of 16 million tonnes, he said.

Falconbridge, owned 58.9 percent by Canada's Noranda Inc., (NRD.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , mines copper from the Collahuasi and Lomas Bayas lodes in Chile and Kidd Creek in Canada.

It was announced by Noranda on Friday that China's Minmetals Corp. is in exclusive talks to acquire all or part of Noranda in a deal that could be worth more than $5 billion. Such a deal is seen as helping to feed China's soaring demand for base metals. Falconbridge is the world's eleventh largest producer of copper and this year expects to churn out a record 350,000 tonnes of the metal, used in everything from plumbing to computer chips, Pearce said.

The company is also a large producer of nickel and expects to decide by the end of 2004 whether to proceed with development of the Koniambo nickel mine in New Caledonia at a cost of $2 billion, Pearce said.

Growth in production of stainless steel worldwide has led forecasters to warn that existing supplies of the metal may not keep pace with demand over the next decade.

Falconbridge had already spent $150 million in pre-development studies at Koniambo and was continuing to assess economic and environmental risks, Pearce said.