On May 25th, Kamoa-Kakula Mine in Democratic Republic of the Congo, which owned by Ivanhoe Mines, started its 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) copper concentrate production at the Phase 1, several months ahead of schedule. The commissioning of this world-class mine marks an important milestone. His Excellency Félix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo offered his high praise and warm congratulations to Ivanhoe Mines.
After recent extensive testwork, the concentrator is expected to produce a very high-grade, clean concentrate grading approximately 57% copper, with extremely low arsenic levels. Kakula is projected to be the world’s highest-grade major copper mine, with an initial mining rate of 3.8 Mtpa, ramping up to 7.6 Mtpa in Q3 2022.
Based on independent benchmarking, the project’s phased expansion scenario to 19 Mtpa would position Kamoa-Kakula as the world’s second-largest copper mining complex, with peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes. Phase 1 is expected to produce approximately 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, and phases 1 and 2 combined are forecast to produce approximately 400,000 tonnes of copper per year. Additionally, a 2020 independent audit of Kamoa-Kakula's greenhouse gas intensity metrics performed by Hatch Ltd. of Mississauga, Canada, confirmed that the project will be among the world's lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced.
Watch a new video highlighting the commissioning of Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 concentrator plant and production of copper concentrate:
https://vimeo.com/555053503/10c1906415
Aerial view of the Kakula Mine. (The northern portal, run-of-mine stockpile and main pre-production stockpiles are within the red circle. The Phase 1 concentrator, the concentrator storage shed, and the foundations for the Phase 2 concentrator are within the large yellow circle; the backfill plant is in the blue circle; the main 220-kilovolt electrical substation is in the green circle; and the green arrow points to the new 220-kilovolt powerline.)