Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 expansion, doubling production to over 400,000 tonnes of copper per year, ahead of schedule and now on track to begin full operations in Q2 2022
October 12, 2021
Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 expansion, doubling production to over
400,000 tonnes of copper per year, ahead of schedule and now on
track to begin full operations in Q2 2022
■
New Phase 1 daily production record of 721 tonnes of copper
achieved
■
Kamoa-Kakula’s second filter press begins operations, allowing
for increased copper concentrate production
■
Phase 1 concentrator ore throughput exceeding the 3.8 Mtpa
design by more than 10%
KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX:
IVPAF) Co-Chairs Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun announced that
construction of Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 concentrator plant, which is designed to
double copper production to approximately 400,000 tonnes a year, is proceeding ahead
of schedule. The project team now anticipates beginning operations of the Phase 2
concentrator plant in Q2 2022, as compared to current guidance of Q3 2022.
Mark Farren, Kamoa Copper’s CEO, stated: “Construction of the Phase 2 concentrator
plant is progressing very well and the project team is working hard to complete the
project ahead of schedule, similar to what we did with the Phase 1 plant. Based on the
pace of the work completed to date, we now expect to deliver first ore to the Phase 2
ball mills before the end of Q2 2022.”
The Phase 2, 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) concentrator plant is a carbon copy of
the Phase 1 concentrator plant, and is being constructed alongside the Phase 1 plant.
All long-lead items of equipment, structural steel, platework and mechanical equipment
for the Phase 2 plant already are delivered to site or are en-route. As of the end of
September 2021, the Phase 2 plant was more than 50% complete.
“The ahead-of-schedule and on-budget achievements at Kamoa-Kakula stand tall and
shine brightly in a COVID-19 world … where mining, infrastructure, and other industrial
projects are routinely massively delayed, hindered by supply bottlenecks and
predictably subject to significant cost over-runs. This outstanding construction
progress at our Phase 1 and Phase 2 mines in this challenging environment is a
testament to the extraordinary skill and dedication of our 'United Nations' of managers,
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staff and contractors," said Ivanhoe Founder & Executive Co-Chair Robert Friedland.
“Their careful and diligent planning, and their utilization of all of our inherent
advantages, delivered this historic achievement, which the industry and the world can
now plainly see has risen to new heights in what a recent industry publication called the
'Democratic Republic of Copper'.
“The Congolese mining industry has a very bright future indeed, and the legacy mining
companies had better ‘pull up their socks’ … We are just starting … Having raised the
bar for construction delivery, Ivanhoe Mines is setting its sights on raising the
environmental, social and governance bar for the ultra-low-carbon copper production
our world desperately needs for the energy transformation. We have all the pieces to do
just that … We have the right team … We have the right partners and the right
stakeholders. And we have the best copper projects in the world right now.”
Also at the end of September, Kamoa-Kakula had surface ore stockpiles totalling
approximately 3.66 million tonnes grading 4.73% copper, containing more than 173,000
tonnes of copper (or 381.4 million pounds of copper). These stockpiles are in place to
help ensure a smooth and efficient ramp up of the Phase 2 concentrator to steady-state
production during 2022.
As forecast in Ivanhoe’s Kamoa-Kakula’s progress update issued on September 30, the
second concentrate filter press began operations on October 3, enabling the Phase 1
plant to produce copper concentrate above design parameters. The second filter allows
Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 concentrator to take advantage of the exceptionally high-
grade copper ore being processed directly from Kakula’s underground mining
operations and surface stockpiles.
“Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 milling and flotation capacity has been demonstrated to be in
excess of design parameters,” commented Steve Amos, Kamoa Copper’s Head of
Projects. “As such, the additional filter press enables Kamoa-Kakula to take advantage
of the extra mill throughput to produce more copper than the estimated design output
of approximately 200,000 tonnes per year. We have a third filter press on order that will
be installed as part of the Phase 2 concentrator expansion.
“The additional filtration capacity also will allow Kamoa-Kakula’s operations team to
find the ‘sweet spot’ between copper recoveries and concentrate copper grades.”
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Aerial shot of the side-by-side Phase 1 (left) and Phase 2 (right) concentrator
plants.
All eight rougher flotation cells and three of six cleaner flotation cells now
installed in the Phase 2 concentrator plant.
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Installing the inlet trunnion on the Phase 2 secondary ball mill.
Lifting the reducer gear box assembly for the Phase 2 secondary ball mill.
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Preparing to lift shell sections of the second of two Phase 2 ball mills.
Since the previous reporting month, the Phase 1 concentrator has consistently
achieved a run-rate throughput of 12,600 tonnes of ore per day (a rate of approximately
4.2 Mtpa), which is 10.5% higher than the design throughput of approximately 11,400
tonnes per day, or 3.8 Mtpa.
During initial commissioning of the second filter press, a new daily production record of
721 tonnes of copper in filtered concentrate was achieved on October 4, 2021. The
current copper price is approximately US$9,500 a tonne.
Watch a short video showcasing the commissioning of the second concentrate
filter press at Kamoa-Kakula: https://vimeo.com/629021616/deccdb4768
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 Government of
the Democratic Republic of Congo (20%).
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(L-R) Operators Madickson Kabeya, Mumba Mpanga Elie, Bizimana Andre Stany
and Bedudrick Mutombo, in front of the two concentrate filter presses that were
manufactured by Outotec of Espoo, Finland.
Members of the multinational commissioning team at the new filter press on left.
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Bizimana Andre Stany operating the concentrate filter press.
Philip Katayi monitoring the loading of high-grade copper concentrate into the
transfer bin, which moves a portion of Kamoa-Kakula’s concentrate to the
bagging plant for shipment to international markets.
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Qualified Persons
Disclosures of a scientific or technical nature regarding development scenarios at the
Kamoa-Kakula Project in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Steve
Amos, who is considered, by virtue of his education, experience and professional
association, a Qualified Person under the terms of NI 43-101. Mr. Amos is not
considered independent under NI 43-101 as he is Kamoa Copper’s Head of Projects. Mr.
Amos has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release.
Ivanhoe has prepared an independent, NI 43-101-compliant technical report for the
Kamoa-Kakula Project, which is available on the company’s website and under the
company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com:
• Kamoa-Kakula Integrated Development Plan 2020 dated October 13, 2020,
prepared by OreWin Pty Ltd., China Nerin Engineering Co., Ltd., DRA Global,
Epoch Resources, Golder Associates Africa, KGHM Cuprum R&D Centre Ltd.,
Outotec Oyj, Paterson and Cooke, Stantec Consulting International LLC, SRK
Consulting Inc., and Wood plc.
The technical report includes relevant information regarding the assumptions,
parameters and methods of the mineral resource estimates on the Kamoa-Kakula
Project cited in this news release, as well as information regarding data verification,
exploration procedures and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical
disclosure contained in this news release.
About Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal
joint-venture projects in Southern Africa: the development of major new, mechanized,
underground mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and at the Platreef palladium-rhodium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold
discovery in South Africa; and the extensive redevelopment and upgrading of the
historic Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
Kamoa-Kakula began producing copper concentrates in May 2021 and, through phased
expansions, is positioned to become one of the world's largest copper producers.
Kamoa-Kakula and Kipushi are being powered by clean, renewable hydro-generated
electricity and are projected to be among the world’s lowest greenhouse gas emitters
per unit of metal produced. Ivanhoe Mines has pledged to achieve net-zero operational
greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Mine when
large-scale electric, hydrogen and hybrid underground mining equipment become
commercially available. Ivanhoe also is exploring for new copper discoveries on its
Western Foreland exploration licences in the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the
Kamoa-Kakula Project.