Kakula development now over 58% completed

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 arnbethnic

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) announced on Monday that overall development of the Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is more than 58% complete, with first concentrate from the initial 3.8-million-tonnes-per-annum (Mtpa) concentrator plant on track for July 2021.

The 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%) and is projected to be the world’s highest-grade major copper mine with an estimated average feed grade of more than 6% copper over the first five years of operation.

According to Ivanhoe, construction of Kamoa-Kakula’s first-phase 3.8 Mtpa concentrator plant is advancing rapidly and was approximately 28% complete at the end of October. The concentrator plant is expected to be mechanically complete in Q2 2021.

MORE THAN 24.7 KILOMETRES OF UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT HAD BEEN COMPLETED TO THE END OF OCTOBER ─ 7.9 KILOMETRES AHEAD OF PLAN

Metallurgical testwork indicates that the Kakula concentrate contain extremely low arsenic levels by world standards – approximately 0.01%.

The current estimate of Kakula’s initial capital costs is approximately $1.3 billion as of January 1, 2019, which assumes commissioning of the first concentrator plant module in July 2021 and includes pre-production ore stockpiles. The capital costs incurred by the Kamoa-Kakula joint venture in 2019 was $309 million.

According to Ivanhoe, more than 24.7 kilometres of underground development had been completed to the end of October ─ 7.9 kilometres ahead of plan.

Ivanhoe recorded a total comprehensive loss of $1.0 million for Q3 2020 compared to loss of $16.8 million for the same period in 2019.