Kakula Copper Mine underground development continues significantly ahead of schedule; more than 17 kilometres now complete and 5.1 kilometres ahead of plan Monthly development in June well ahead of plan with 1,729 metres achieved
July 6, 2020
Kakula Copper Mine underground development continues
significantly ahead of schedule; more than 17 kilometres
now complete and 5.1 kilometres ahead of plan
Monthly development in June well ahead of plan
with 1,729 metres achieved
Kakula’s 2,000-tonne-per-hour ore conveyor system
begins operation
All major equipment and the majority of structural steel now on
site, or en route, for Kakula’s first phase 3.8-million-tonne-per-
annum processing plant scheduled to begin operations
in Q3 2021
Surface stockpiles now contain an estimated 68,000 tonnes of ore
grading 5.90% copper and 394,000 tonnes of medium-grade ore
grading 2.71% copper, including satellite stockpiles at Kakula
South and Kansoko
KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN;
OTCQX:IVPAF) Co-Chairs Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun announced today
that underground development at the Kakula Copper Mine continues to exceed
expectations with more than 17 kilometres now complete, which is 5.1 kilometres ahead
of schedule. In June, the mining team achieved 1,729 metres of underground
development – 575 metres ahead of plan for the month.
Kakula’s 2,000-tonne-per-hour ore conveyor system began operations in June, which
will further increase the mine’s pace of underground development.
The majority of the development headings at the Kakula Mine currently are traversing
medium-grade sections of the orebody, with average grades ranging between 3% and
5% copper. Several development headings are continuing in high-grade zones grading
more than 8% copper, and this ore is being placed on a dedicated, high-grade surface
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stockpile at Kakula North that now totals approximately 68,000 tonnes grading an
estimated 5.90% copper. The medium-grade surface stockpiles at Kakula North, Kakula
South and Kansoko together contain an additional 394,000 tonnes grading an estimated
2.71% copper.
As Kakula’s underground development progresses over the next few months, the
majority of the headings are expected to transition into the high-grade ore zones.
More than 200 truck loads, consisting mainly of structural steel and equipment for
Kakula’s initial 3.8-million-tonne-per-annum processing plant, were received on site in
June and construction of the plant is progressing rapidly. Fabrication of the plant’s
largest components – two ball mills each measuring 9.75 metres (32 feet) long and 6.1
metres (20 feet) in diameter – has been completed at CITIC Heavy Industries’ factory in
Luoyang, China, and shipping of the components is underway.
The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%),
Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the DRC
government (20%).
Aerial view of the Kakula Mine showing the tonnes and grade of the main pre-
production stockpiles. The northern declines and ore conveyor system are
circled in red and the processing plant is in the upper right corner.
3
Kakula southern decline and ore stockpile containing approximately 38,000
tonnes of medium-grade ore.
Kansoko decline and ore stockpile containing approximately 35,000 tonnes of
medium-grade ore.
4
Kakula’s high-capacity ore conveyor system begins operation
Kakula’s decline conveyor system that will transport ore from underground to surface now is
operational. Final commissioning of the full system (including the fire suppression system and
all safety components) is underway and is scheduled to be completed around mid-July. The
conveyor system has the capacity to transport 2,000 tonnes of ore per hour from underground
to surface.
The conveyor system substantially shortens the haulage distance for the mine’s truck fleet;
significantly increasing productivity, and lowering mining and maintenance costs.
Construction of the surface conveyor system has commenced and the first steel has been
delivered to site. The surface conveyor system will transport ore from the decline conveyor
system to the main processing plant stockpile. Forecast completion date is scheduled for Q1
2021.
Kakula’s first ore being transported to surface on the new conveyor system.
Click here to watch a short video of the first ore being delivered to surface via the
new rock-handling conveyor system: https://player.vimeo.com/video/431759826
Click here to watch a short video of the first ore being dumped into an
underground ore bin for conveyance to surface:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/433659430
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A 63-tonne Sandvik truck dumps the first load of ore into Kakula’s east tip bin,
for transportation to surface via the new conveyor system.
Mioi Kabinda (left) and Kifumbe Bijimba (right) with the newly-installed magnet
and rock breaker at the east ore tip bin, part of the underground ore handling
system at the Kakula Mine.
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Team members from DRC-based Kamoa Kakula Construction Company (KKCC),
mark the completion of erecting the high-capacity decline conveyor system that
now is transporting copper ore from Kakula’s underground workings to surface.
Development of the Kakula Mine, the first deposit to be placed into production on the 400-
square-kilometre Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, is well ahead of schedule. Mine access drives
1 and 2 (interconnected, parallel tunnels that will provide access to ore zones) continue to
progress well towards the southern portion of the orebody.
Development also is well advanced on the eastern perimeter drives and the room-and-pillar
mining area. Development from the southern portal has reached south access drives 1 and 2,
with mining crews working to establish the connection of these drives with mine access drives
1 and 2 from the north side of the orebody. The northern and southern access drives are
scheduled to be joined by the end of October 2020.
Underground mining also is occurring at the Kansoko Mine, located at the Kamoa deposit
approximately 10 kilometres north of the Kakula Mine. Kansoko is development ready and
currently is being used to train young Congolese mining crews.
The main surface exhaust ventilation fans (VS#2) are progressing well with fan fabrication on
schedule and the ventilation shaft raise boring complete. The NE#1 fan station pilot hole has
commenced with fabrication of the fans scheduled to start this month. The third underground
water pumping train at Kakula’s main decline pumping chamber has been commissioned,
increasing the mine’s pumping capacity to 600 litres per second.
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In parallel with the construction of Kamoa-Kakula’s phase 1 Kakula Mine, work is progressing
on the independent Kakula definitive feasibility study (DFS) and an updated Integrated
Development Plan for the entire Kamoa-Kakula mining complex, which is expected to be
finalized this month. The Integrated Development Plan will include details on the planned
expansion phases for the greater Kamoa-Kakula mining complex, incorporating updates for
mineral resources, production rates and economic analysis.
Figure 1: The 13.3-kilometre-long Kakula Deposit showing the first five years of
planned underground development and production (in the black box at the
eastern end of the deposit) focused on the pink area containing average copper
grades greater than 8% copper.
More detail of current underground development progress and planned
development over the next three and six months is shown in figures 2, 3 & 4.
Kakula North
Decline
Kakula South
Decline
Figure 2: Underground development completed to the end of June (in purple) and scheduled development
(green, brown, blue & black) over the next quarter. Shown are the 3%, 5% and 8% copper contours and the
location where the northern and southern access drives are scheduled to join by the end of October (red star).