METALLURGICAL Corp of China Ltd, a major engineering and construction company, said it expects to start production at the Aynak copper mine in Afghanistan at the end of 2014 at the earliest.

The project has been delayed because of the discovery of historical relics at the site and the relocation of local residents, Shen Heting, its president, said in Shanghai yesterday.

"It will take at least nine months more for UNESCO to move the relics out and the same time to relocate the residents," Shen said.

MCC owns 75 percent of the Aynak project and Jiangxi Copper Co holds the balance. The two Chinese companies in 2007 won a tender to develop the mine, outbidding rivals from the United States, Canada and Kazakhstan.

Jiangxi Copper said in March the mine, with an output of 200,000 tons of copper a year, will cost US$1.7 billion to develop.