Ivanhoe mines reports no impact from the omicron variant on any of its operations
Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF) reports that the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, has had no impact on any of its mining or mine development operations in South Africa or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
No cases of the new variant have been detected at the company’s Kamoa-Kakula and Kipushi projects in the DRC and, while there have been some recent infections among employees and contractors working at the company’s Platreef Project in South Africa, all people infected to date have either been asymptomatic or experienced very mild symptoms.
Approximately 92% of Ivanhoe Mines’ team based in Sandton and approximately 86% of Platreef’s employees and contractors have received COVID-19 vaccinations.
Ivanhoe Mines plans to provide a progress update on Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 expansion next week, and also expects to soon provide an update on development progress at the Platreef Project.
About Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the development of major new, mechanized, underground mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper joint-venture 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. 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.
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 is being powered by clean, renewable hydro-generated electricity and is 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.
