Kamoa-Kakula Achieved a Record 45,019 Tonnes of Copper in November
Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF) Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland and President Marna Cloete announced that the Phase 1, 2, and 3 concentrators at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) achieved a monthly combined production record of 45,019 tonnes of copper in concentrate during the 30 days of November.
The concentrators milled 1.2 million tonnes of ore at an average feed grade of 4.58% copper. Production for the year to November 30, 2024, from Kamoa-Kakula now totals 390,061 tonnes of copper.
The recently ramped-up Phase 3 concentrator achieved an average recovery rate of 85.3% during November, rapidly approaching its design rate of 86%. In addition, on November 26, the Phase 3 concentrator achieved a record 90% recovery rate over 24 hours.
Ivanhoe Founder and Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland commented:
“Kamoa-Kakula’s production continues its acceleration into year-end, following the completion earlier this quarter of the ramp-up of the Phase 3 concentrator.
November was another remarkable milestone with the delivery of a further 10% month-on-month increase in copper production, taking the annualized production rate to approximately 550,000 tonnes of copper… and November was a short month of 30 days.
There is more copper to come from this world-leading mining district as the growth story is only just beginning as we grow into a production capacity of 600,000 tonnes per annum.
We are the unicorn of our industry… it was only three and a half years ago that we first produced copper from this vast, multi-generational copper complex.”
President Biden visits Lobito Atlantic Railway port terminal as first batch of new container wagons are delivered
On December 3, 2024, President Biden is set to visit the Angolan port of Lobito, where copper from Kamoa-Kakula is loaded onto ships for export.
The visit comes after an announcement on October 24, 2024, by the US International Development Finance Corporation, that approved a $553 million loan to the Trafigura-led consortium that is operating the Lobito Atlantic Railway SA, for further upgrade work on the line.
In addition, as announced on November 14, 2024, by Trafigura of Geneva, Switzerland, the first batch of 275 new container wagons purchased from Galison Manufacturing of Welkom, South Africa has been delivered to Lobito, Angola.
The new container wagons, weighing 13.5 tonnes and with a load capacity of up to 60.5 tonnes, are designed to each carry one 40-foot container or two 20-foot containers. The recently delivered batch of wagons is the first in a series of weekly deliveries expected from now until 2026.
DRC is set to become World’s second-largest producer of copper
According to an analysis by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence of London, England, total copper production in Peru during the 9 months to September 30, 2024, was down year-on-year by 0.6% at 1.99 million tonnes.
In a publication made on November 25, 2024, Benchmark stated that “the setback means that it will become more challenging for Peru’s copper miners to reach the government’s 2024 production target of 2.8 million tonnes (already revised down in September from 3.0 million tonnes).”
Analysis by Benchmark estimated that in 2023, Peru produced 2.76 million tonnes of copper, whereas the DRC produced 2.70 million tonnes.
Benchmark stated, “Peru will almost certainly be overtaken by the DRC to the number two spot in the global ranking of top mined copper producers in 2024. We expect the DRC to produce 2.9 million tonnes of mined copper this year.”
