Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 expansion will double annual production

Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 expansion, doubling production to over 400,000 tonnes of copper per year, ahead of schedule and now on track to begin full operations in Q2 2022New Phase 1 daily production record of 721 tonnes of copper achievedKamoa-Kakula’s second filter press begins operations, allowing for increased copper concentrate productionPhase 1 concentrator ore throughput exceeding the 3.8 Mtpa design by more than 10%

KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF) Co-Chairs Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun announced that construction of Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 concentrator plant, which is designed to double copper production to approximately 400,000 tonnes a year, is proceeding ahead of schedule. The project team now anticipates beginning operations of the Phase 2 concentrator plant in Q2 2022, as compared to current guidance of Q3 2022.

Mark Farren, Kamoa Copper’s CEO, stated: “Construction of the Phase 2 concentrator plant is progressing very well and the project team is working hard to complete the project ahead of schedule, similar to what we did with the Phase 1 plant. Based on the pace of the work completed to date, we now expect to deliver first ore to the Phase 2 ball mills before the end of Q2 2022.”

The Phase 2, 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) concentrator plant is a carbon copy of the Phase 1 concentrator plant, and is being constructed alongside the Phase 1 plant. All long-lead items of equipment, structural steel, platework and mechanical equipment for the Phase 2 plant already are delivered to site or are en-route. As of the end of September 2021, the Phase 2 plant was more than 50% complete.

“The ahead-of-schedule and on-budget achievements at Kamoa-Kakula stand tall and shine brightly in a COVID-19 world … where mining, infrastructure, and other industrial projects are routinely massively delayed, hindered by supply bottlenecks and predictably subject to significant cost over-runs. This outstanding construction progress at our Phase 1 and Phase 2 mines in this challenging environment is a testament to the extraordinary skill and dedication of our ‘United Nations’ of managers, staff and contractors,” said Ivanhoe Founder & Executive Co-Chair Robert Friedland. “Their careful and diligent planning, and their utilization of all of our inherent advantages, delivered this historic achievement, which the industry and the world can now plainly see has risen to new heights in what a recent industry publication called the ‘Democratic Republic of Copper’.

“The Congolese mining industry has a very bright future indeed, and the legacy mining companies had better ‘pull up their socks’ … We are just starting … Having raised the bar for construction delivery, Ivanhoe Mines is setting its sights on raising the environmental, social and governance bar for the ultra-low-carbon copper production our world desperately needs for the energy transformation. We have all the pieces to do just that … We have the right team … We have the right partners and the right stakeholders. And we have the best copper projects in the world right now.”

Also at the end of September, Kamoa-Kakula had surface ore stockpiles totalling approximately 3.66 million tonnes grading 4.73% copper, containing more than 173,000 tonnes of copper (or 381.4 million pounds of copper). These stockpiles are in place to help ensure a smooth and efficient ramp up of the Phase 2 concentrator to steady-state production during 2022.

As forecast in Ivanhoe’s Kamoa-Kakula’s progress update issued on September 30, the second concentrate filter press began operations on October 3, enabling the Phase 1 plant to produce copper concentrate above design parameters. The second filter allows Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 concentrator to take advantage of the exceptionally high-grade copper ore being processed directly from Kakula’s underground mining operations and surface stockpiles.

“Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 milling and flotation capacity has been demonstrated to be in excess of design parameters,” commented Steve Amos, Kamoa Copper’s Head of Projects. “As such, the additional filter press enables Kamoa-Kakula to take advantage of the extra mill throughput to produce more copper than the estimated design output of approximately 200,000 tonnes per year. We have a third filter press on order that will be installed as part of the Phase 2 concentrator expansion.

“The additional filtration capacity also will allow Kamoa-Kakula’s operations team to find the ‘sweet spot’ between copper recoveries and concentrate copper grades.”

Aerial shot of the side-by-side Phase 1 (left) and Phase 2 (right) concentrator plants.

All eight rougher flotation cells and three of six cleaner flotation cells now installed in the Phase 2 concentrator plant.

Installing the inlet trunnion on the Phase 2 secondary ball mill.

Lifting the reducer gear box assembly for the Phase 2 secondary ball mill.

Preparing to lift shell sections of the second of two Phase 2 ball mills.

Since the previous reporting month, the Phase 1 concentrator has consistently achieved a run-rate throughput of 12,600 tonnes of ore per day (a rate of approximately 4.2 Mtpa), which is 10.5% higher than the design throughput of approximately 11,400 tonnes per day, or 3.8 Mtpa.

During initial commissioning of the second filter press, a new daily production record of 721 tonnes of copper in filtered concentrate was achieved on October 4, 2021. The current copper price is approximately US$9,500 a tonne.

Watch a short video showcasing the commissioning of the second concentrate filter press at Kamoa-Kakula: https://vimeo.com/629021616/deccdb4768

The Kamoa-Kakula Copper 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%).

(L-R) Operators Madickson Kabeya, Mumba Mpanga Elie, Bizimana Andre Stany and Bedudrick Mutombo, in front of the two concentrate filter presses that were manufactured by Outotec ofEspoo, Finland.

Members of the multinational commissioning team at the new filter press on left.

Bizimana Andre Stany operating the concentrate filter press.

Philip Katayi monitoring the loading of high-grade copper concentrate into the transfer bin, which moves a portion of Kamoa-Kakula’s concentrate to the bagging plant for shipment to international markets.

About Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal joint-venture projects in Southern Africa: the development of major new, mechanized, underground mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries 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.

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 and Kipushi are being powered by clean, renewable hydro-generated electricity and are 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 when large-scale electric, hydrogen and hybrid underground mining equipment become commercially available. 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.