Ivanhoe has reported the early achievement of first concentrate through its Phase 2 concentrator at the Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The near-record 35,474 tonnes was produced in May, the company said last week, from the first and second phases.
Executive co-chair Robert Friedland confirmed the achievement was celebrated by the mine-site management and employees. It comes months early for the miner, and just two weeks after the first feed of ore into the concentrator, a milestone it confirmed on 28 May.
Phase 3 is expected to boost production to over 600,000 tonnes of copper annually, with a ramp up to commercial production targeted for early in the third quarter.
A video of the completion of the concentrator and production of first concentrate can be seen here. It will process ore from the newly developed and adjacent Kamoa 1 and 2 underground mines, as well as connect the new Kansoko underground mine.
At 5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), the design capacity of the Phase 3 concentrator is 30% larger than the original design capacities of the Phase 1 and 2 concentrators, located approximately 10 kilometres to the south.
The Phase 3 concentrator increases the total design processing capacity of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex to 14.2 Mtpa. Phase 3 is expected to increase annualized copper production to greater than 600,000 tonnes per annum, positioning Kamoa-Kakula as the world’s third-largest copper mining complex, and the largest copper mine on the African continent.
Canadian-based Ivanhoe also owns the tier-one Platreef palladium-nickel-platinum-rhodium-copper-gold project in South Africa and is restarting the historic ultra-high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC.
Source: Ivanhoe Mines