Jubilee delivers record copper production in the third quarter
Aim- and AltX-listed Jubilee Metals delivered both a record production and financial performance in the third quarter, ended March 31, with the company having achieved its highest quarterly platinum group metals (PGMs) production, to date, of 15 044 oz.
The record PGMs production is supported by 136 162 t of chrome concentrate produced under tolling agreements from third-party ore suppliers.
Jubilee’s PGM and chrome operations delivered record quarterly operational earnings of £15.1-million, which surpasses the previous operational record set during the first six months of the 2020 financial year.
This operational performance reflects Jubilee’s successful drive to expand its operations by supplementing its own surface resources with third-party ore supply agreements in place to secure a sustainable business strategy.
In a statement on October 12, Jubilee confirmed that it continues to pursue additional opportunities to further expand its chrome and PGMs operational footprint and that its copper operations in Zambia continue to make significant progress.
The copper ore upgrade facility at Jubilee’s Sable Refinery is nearing completion as part of the overall expansion plan.
Additionally, all long lead items have been secured for the construction and implementation of Project Roan, which is set to more than double Jubilee’s copper production over the short term.
Jubilee announced in August that it has secured the rights to about two-million tonnes of copper run-of-mine (RoM) material with the potential of increasing the RoM to four-million tonnes, as well as a targeted 2.5-million tonnes of copper containing tailings.
Jubilee concluded a strategic partnership through a 50:50 joint venture (JV) to turn Project Roan to account.
As part of the partnership, Jubilee will build, own and operate the processing facility, while its JV partner will deliver the RoM and tailings at no cost to Project Roan. The JV partner is tasked with producing the copper concentrates, which will be sold on an arms-length basis, with Jubilee’s Sable Refinery holding the first right to such concentrate.
Under the JV, Jubilee may also secure and process its own third-party RoM at the Roan facility, which is targeting production of 10 000 t of equivalent copper units a year of copper concentrate for further refining.
In turn, this will support Jubilee’s rapid copper expansion strategy to increase capacity to more than 25 000 t/y of copper.
Further, as announced in June, Jubilee has also secured the rights to about 150-million tonnes of copper containing surface tailings, which are targeted to be upgraded at site and refined at its Sable Refinery. This will be done through a JV with the mining rights holder.
The company’s technical and operational teams plan to build a copper concentrator at the tailings resource to produce two separate concentrates for both the acid soluble copper oxides and sulphide associated copper.
Project Elephant alone holds the potential to produce copper concentrates in excess of the total Sable Refinery capacity of 14 000 t/y of copper cathode.
Jubilee expects to release its audited results for the year to June 30, 2020, before the end of October.
source: Mining weekly
