Ivanhoe Mines’ Phase 3 concentrator at Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached commercial production, the company has announced.
According to the firm’s Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland and President Marna Cloete, Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1, 2 and 3 concentrators have also achieved a combined monthly production record of 35,941 tonnes of copper in July.
“Kamoa-Kakula’s operations team continues to achieve a very rare feat in our industry… delivering world-scale copper development projects ahead of schedule, while also advancing smoothly through to commercial production at an impressive rate. Kamoa-Kakula’s record-setting production in July marks the onset of rapid copper growth over the second half of 2024, with Phase 3 on track to increase annualized production capacity from approximately 450,000 tonnes to over 600,000 tonnes,” said Friedland.
“We are also pursuing avenues to maximize copper production from KamoaKakula’s current operating footprint, with recoveries anticipated to increase via our ‘Project 95’ program, and overall throughput to also increase through the near-term debottlenecking of the Phase 3 concentrator. We expect Ivanhoe’s aggressive copper growth story to continue as we advance planning on KamoaKakula’s Phase 4 expansion, while exploration continues to impress on our adjacent Western Foreland licenses,” he added.
Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 3 concentrator was completed ahead of schedule on May 28, 2024, with copper concentrate production commencing on June 10, 2024. The Phase 3 concentrator subsequently achieved commercial production. This accelerated ramp-up schedule was primarily due to experience gained from the ramp-up of the Phase 1 and 2 concentrators that also achieved commercial production over a similar period of time.
Consistent milling
The Phase 3 concentrator is consistently milling at the nameplate processing rate of 5 million tonnes of ore per annum. Milling has also exceeded nameplate capacity on multiple occasions over 24 hours by as much as 19%. Commissioning of the fine-grinding mills is the final stage of ramp-up required to achieve steady state production, increasing recovery from approximately 80% to the nameplate target of 86%. The fine-grinding mills, manufactured by Metso Corporation of Helsinki, Finland, are currently undergoing installation with commissioning expected to commence from the end of August.
Following the “Project 95” basic engineering work that was recently completed on the Phase 1 and 2 concentrators, Kamoa Copper’s engineering team will soon commence study work targeting an increase in the Phase 3 concentrator’s recovery rate to over 90%, as well as a further increase in processing capacity.
Copper production
Since first production, the Phase 3 concentrator has produced over 11,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate. The first sale of copper concentrate produced by the Phase 3 concentrator took place in July, with all concentrate produced so far toll smelted at the nearby Lualaba Copper Smelter (LCS) in Kolwezi. To date, over 33,000 wet metric tonnes of copper concentrate have been delivered to LCS. In the fourth quarter, prior to the heat-up of the on-site copper smelter at KamoaKakula in early 2025, a portion of the Phase 3 copper concentrate will be stockpiled on-site with the remainder delivered to LCS.
On a stand-alone basis, the Phase 3 concentrator is expected to produce approximately 150,000 tonnes of copper per annum. In addition to the Phase 1 and 2 concentrators, total copper production capacity at Kamoa-Kakula is expected to be over 600,000 tonnes per annum, making it the third largest copper mining operation globally.
The company’s full report is accessible here.