- Write by:
-
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 - 3:51:51 PM
-
547 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines published on Tuesday the results of an independent definitive feasibility study (DFS) for its Kakula project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which confirms the asset could become the world’s second largest copper mining complex.
Kakula, the first underground mine planned at the Kamoa-Kakula concession, is forecast to generate 6 million tonnes of ore a year at an average feed grade of 6.6% copper over the first five years of operation, the study shows.
Ivanhoe said the document is an independent verification by nine of the world’s top engineering firms of Kakula’s robust economics.
“The definitive feasibility study also confirms what we’ve been telling investors for the past year and a half, and showcasing monthly in our progress galleries – the Kakula mine is being rapidly built, it is ahead of schedule, and is on budget,” Ivanhoe’s co-chairperson Robert Friedland said in the statement.
Kakula, which is expected to begin production in less than a year, will also have top ranking “green” credentials, according to Friedland.
“The mine has been designed to produce the world’s most environmentally-responsible copper, which is crucial for today’s new generation of environmentally- and socially-focused investors,” he said.
Phased development
The Vancouver-based company also issued a prefeasibility study for extracting 1.6-million tonnes of copper a year from the Kansoko mine to “take full advantage of an expanded plant capacity of 7.6-million tonnes a year at Kakula.”
Ivanhoe reiterated that the Kamoa-Kakula project, being developed in partnership with China’s Zijin Mining Group, will advance in stages until having four producing mines with a combined 19 million-tonne per year output rate.
Peak annual copper production from Kakula, Kansoko, Kakula West and Kamoa North is expected to surpass 800,000 tonnes, the company said.
Friedland, who made his fortune from the Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Canada in the 1990s, has been working on Kamoa-Kakula for ten years.
Last month, the company struck a strategic partnership with China Nonferrous Metal Mining (CNMC) to explore opportunities, including exploration and smelting, in Africa.
In January, CNMC opened Congo’s first large-scale copper smelter, the Lualaba Copper Smelter, 45km from the Kamoa-Kakula copper joint venture in the country’s southern copperbelt.
Kamoa-Kakula is a strategic partnership between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the DRC government (20%).
Ivanhoe is exploring for new copper discoveries on its wholly-owned Western Foreland exploration licenses, adjacent to the Kamoa-Kakula mining license.
The company is also advancing the Platreef palladium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold-rhodium discovery in South Africa and upgrading its historic Kipushi zinc-copper-silver-lead-germanium mine, also in the DRC.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/597368
Oxford Economics Australia has released data showing mine maintenance spending may be hitting its peak. But what does it ...
Copper climbed above $10,000 a ton as predictions for tighter global supplies and rising consumption in electric ...
Canada’s mining industry is pushing for an carveout to the federal government’s proposed increase to capital gains ...
Iron ore futures fell to their lowest in more than two weeks, pressured by an inventory accumulation at Chinese ports ...
Copper output in Chile, the world’s largest producer of the metal, edged down in March, data from copper commission ...
Panama’s president-elect has ruled out talks with Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals until it drops multiple ...
Nutrien, the world’s biggest fertilizer producer, beat first-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday, on strong demand for ...
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi vowed to protect the country’s interests, including its 15% stake in diamond giant ...
Europe’s largest copper producer Aurubis AG reported first-half core profit above expectations on Wednesday, helped by ...
No comments have been posted yet ...