Kamoa-Kakula on track to become the world's third-largest copper mining complex by Q4 2024, with copper production of approximately 600,000 tonnes per year
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May 3, 2022
Kamoa-Kakula on track to become the world's third-largest
copper mining complex by Q4 2024, with copper production of
approximately 600,000 tonnes per year
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Phase 3 expansion to include additional Kamoa 5 million-tonne-
per-annum concentrator, adjacent to two new underground mines
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Kamoa Copper commences earthworks on direct-to-blister
smelter; on-site copper metal production expected in Q4 2024
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Phase 2 production ramp-up to double annual copper production
continues to progress smoothly
NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF) Co-Chairs
Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun are pleased to announce today, ahead of the
Goldman Sachs Copper Day, further details of the Phase 3 expansion at the Kamoa-
Kakula Copper Mining Complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Phase 3 is
expected to increase annualized copper production capacity to approximately 600,000
tonnes per year by the fourth quarter of 2024, which will position Kamoa Copper as the
world’s third-largest copper mining complex (Figure 1), and the largest copper mining
complex on the African continent.
Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 3 will consist of two new underground mines known as Kamoa 1
and Kamoa 2, as well as the initial decline development at Kakula West. A new, 5
million-tonne-per-annum concentrator plant will be established adjacent to the two new
mines at Kamoa.
Upon commencement of Phase 3 production, Kamoa Copper will have a total
processing capacity of greater than 14 million tonnes per annum. The existing Phase 1
and 2 concentrators will be de-bottlenecked and operating at a combined throughput of
9.2 million tonnes of ore per year by the second quarter of 2023, which is expected to
increase annual copper production to more than 450,000 tonnes. The associated power
and surface infrastructure are being designed to support Phase 3, as well as future
expansions.
Phase 3 also includes a direct-to-blister flash smelter that will incorporate leading-edge
technology supplied by Metso Outotec of Espoo, Finland, with a nameplate capacity of
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500,000 tonnes a year of approximately 99%-pure blister copper. It is projected to be
one of the largest, single-line copper flash smelters in the world, and the largest in
Africa.
Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 3 expansion will also be powered by clean, green
hydroelectricity. Kamoa Copper’s Inga II partnership is expected to generate an
additional 178 megawatts (MW) of renewable hydropower for the Democratic Republic
of Congo, providing the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Mining Complex and associated smelter
with sustainable electricity for Phase 3 and future expansions, while also benefitting
local communities.
Negotiations for an amendment to Kamoa-Kakula’s offtake arrangements for Phase 2
production are nearly complete, with copper product currently being shipped under
existing, Phase 1 agreements.
Kamoa Copper’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrator plants have reached
commercial production. Kamoa-Kakula is expected to increase production to
approximately 600,000 tonnes copper by Q4 2024.
Watch an April video highlighting Kamoa-Kakula’s operations and phased
expansion: https://vimeo.com/705427431/8e94ba5768
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Mr. Friedland commented: “Together with our joint-venture partner, Zijin Mining, we are
resolved to expedite future expansion phases at Kamoa-Kakula to meet rapidly rising
copper demand, create profitable growth for our shareholders, and long-lasting
economic and social benefits for the Congolese nation and people. The Kamoa Copper
team has delivered fantastic results during construction and ramp-up of Phase 1 and
Phase 2, and we're confident that record of success will continue as we expand Kamoa-
Kakula into one of the world's largest producers of copper metal.
“We are at an inflection point for the copper industry ... one where we must determine
how to meet growing demand, even as discovering and building new mines becomes
ever more challenging. Humanity will likely require as much copper in the next 22 years
alone as it did through this point in its history – approximately 700 million metric tonnes
– just to maintain 3% GDP growth. This does not even account for rising demand
related to global investment to combat climate change through aggressive
electrification.
“We share Goldman Sachs' outlook on the pending supply-demand challenges in the
copper market. We are looking forward to meeting with the financial and investment
leaders in New York to discuss solutions, and to share the industry leading successes
at Kamoa-Kakula ... which at this very moment is the ‘greenest’ and fastest growing
copper mine on the planet.”
Figure 1: Kamoa-Kakula’s base-case, pro-forma Phase 3 copper production (after
Phase 1 and 2 de-bottlenecking is complete) relative to the world’s projected top
10 producing mines in 2022 by paid copper production.
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Source: Company filings, Wood Mackenzie (April 2022). Note: Kamoa-Kakula production of
600 kt copper in concentrate, is based on expected Phase 1, 2 and 3 steady state production,
following de-bottlenecking of both Phase 1 and 2 concentrators, and commercial ramp-up of
the Phase 3 concentrator.
Construction progress on the new box cut and twin decline excavations is
advancing quickly at the Kamoa 1 and Kamoa 2 mines.
Phase 3 construction works well underway, with Pre-Feasibility Study
expected in the second half of 2022
Phase 3 is making solid progress, with detailed design, budgeting and engineering
advancing well. Construction progress on the new box cut excavation is advancing
rapidly at the Kamoa 1 and Kamoa 2 mines, with decline development expected to start
in early May 2022, which will provide access to the major Phase 3 mining areas.
The Pre-Feasibility Study for the Phase 3 expansion is well advanced and expected to
be announced during the second half of this year, while first production is anticipated
to commence by the end of 2024.
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Drilling the blast holes for the first blast at the Phase 3 Kamoa 1 and 2 box cut,
which occurred in early April.
Annebel Oosthuizen, Chief Executive, Commercial, Kamoa Copper (left); and
Marna Cloete, President, Ivanhoe Mines, initiate the second blast at the Kamoa 1
and 2 box cut.
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Photo of the second blast at the Kamoa 1 and 2 box cut dated April 14, 2022.
Kamoa-Kakula smelter to be one of the largest, single-line blister-copper
flash smelters in the world, and the largest in Africa
Kamoa Copper has awarded the earthworks contract for the Phase 3, 500,000-tonnes-
per-annum, direct-to-blister flash smelter; and construction has commenced at the site.
The Kamoa-Kakula smelter will be built adjacent to the Phase 1 and Phase 2
concentrator plants, and is designed to use technology supplied by Metso Outotec and
to meet the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) emissions standards. The smelter
has been sized to process most of the copper concentrate forecast to be produced by
Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 concentrators.
In late 2021, Kamoa Copper awarded China Nerin Engineering Co., Ltd. (Nerin) of
Jiangxi, China, with the basic engineering contract for the planned, direct-to-blister
flash smelter. Nerin is an international engineering company with more than 60 years of
experience in smelter engineering and construction projects globally. Nerin actively
promotes the advancement of smelting technology through its own research and
development, and establishing various partnerships with global industry peers,
including Metso Outotec.
The smelter, once in operation, is expected to enable Kamoa-Kakula to reduce its C1
cash costs per pound of payable copper produced by approximately 10% to 20%, driven
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by significantly reduced transportation costs, reducing overall volumes shipped by
more than half, as well as more favorable tax treatment, and the recovery and sale of
sulphuric acid as a by-product revenue.
There is a strong demand and market for sulphuric acid in the Democratic Republic of
Congo to recover copper from oxide ores. Copper mines in the region currently import
significant volumes of sulphur used in sulphur-burning acid plants to produce
sulphuric acid for the treatment of oxide copper ores. The Democratic Republic of
Congo also imports sulphuric acid, primarily from Zambia.
Changdong Liu (left), Kamoa Technical Executive; and David Mitchell, Kamoa
Senior Project Manager, standing in the location of the direct-to-blister flash
furnace in the new smelter plant.
Inga II partnership to supply additional clean hydroelectric power for the
Phase 3 expansion and smelter; EPC contract signed for Turbine #5
refurbishment
In July 2021, Ivanhoe Mines Energy DRC, a sister company of Kamoa Copper tasked
with delivering reliable, clean, renewable hydropower to the Kamoa-Kakula Copper
Mining Complex, signed an addendum of the financing agreement under a public-
private partnership with the Democratic Republic of Congo's state-owned power
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company, La Société Nationale d'Electricité (SNEL), to upgrade a major turbine (#5) in
the existing Inga II hydropower facility on the Congo River.
This partnership successfully refurbished and modernized the Mwadingusha
hydropower plant in 2021, which now provides 78 MW to the national grid.
The Inga II project is expected to produce an additional 178 MW of renewable
hydropower, providing the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex and associated smelter with
sustainable electricity for Phase 3 and future expansions, while also benefitting local
communities. The Inga II upgrade project is scheduled for completion in the fourth
quarter of 2024.
The work at Turbine #5 will include the upgrade and replacement of all the unit line from
intake equipment, turbine, speed governor, alternator, voltage regulator and
transformers (water to wire).
The Inga II Turbine #5 project has much lower unitary cost per megawatt produced
($0.58/MW) compared to the completed Mwadingusha project ($1.45/MW).
The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the upgrading of
Turbine #5 was signed in Heidenheim, Germany, on April 26, 2022, by SNEL and Voith
Hydro, a leading German hydropower company.
Signing of the Turbine #5 EPC contract in Heidenheim, Germany, on April 26,
2022. (L-R) Jean-Bosco Kayombo, CEO, SNEL; Ben Munanga, General Manager,
Ivanhoe Mines Energy; Heike Bergmann, Senior VP Sales, Africa, Voith Hydro;
Gerhard Seyrling, President and CEO, Voith Hydro Europe.