Name of the Project
Kamoa-Kakula copper mine development project.

Location
The project is located in the Kolwezi district of Lualaba province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Project Owner/s
The project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global (0.8%) and the DRC government (20%).

Project Description
A prefeasibility study (PFS) on the Kakula copper mine and the expanded preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the overall development of the Kamoa and Kakula copper discoveries at the Kamoa-Kakula project have reinforced that Kamoa-Kakula is one of world’s best undeveloped copper discoveries.

In February 2020, Ivanhoe announced an updated independently verified indicated mineral resource, which increased the combined Kamoa-Kakula project’s indicated mineral resource to 423-million tonnes, with a grading of 4.68% copper at a 3% cutoff.

The combined Kamoa-Kakula project indicated that the mineral resource is 1.4-billion tonnes grading 2.70% copper at a 1% cutoff.

Kakula benefits from an ultra­high, average feed grade of 6.40% copper over the first ten years of operations, and 5.50% copper on average over a 25-year mine life.

The Kakula 2019 PFS proposes the development of an initial six-million-tonne-a-year mine at the Kakula deposit, in the southerly portion of the Kamoa-Kakula project’s discovery area. The study envisages an average production of 291 000 t/y of copper for the first ten years of operation and peak copper production of 360 000 t in Year 4.

Mining at the Kakula deposit will be through drift-and-fill using paste backfill, and room-and-pillar methods. The method has been chosen to maximise the extraction of high-grade Kakula ore and is suitable for large-scale bulk mechanised mining.

Mine access to the Kakula deposit will be through twin declines on the north side, which have been completed, and a decline on the south side of the deposit. One of the north declines will serve as the primary mine access while the other will include the conveyor haulage system.
The south decline will provide additional ventilation, serve as a secondary operational ingress/egress and will facilitate critical early mine development.

The Kakula concentrator will be built in a phased approach, with two three-million-tonne-a-year modules as the mining operations ramp up to full production of six-million tonnes a year. The Kakula concentrator design incorporates a run-of-mine stockpile, followed by crushing and screening, high-pressure grinding rolls, ball milling, flotation, concentrate thickening and filtration.

The Kamoa-Kakula 2019 PEA presents the sequential development plan of the Kamoa-Kakula’s high-grade copper deposits.

Initial production is proposed to occur at six-million tonnes a year from the Kakula mine before increasing to 12-million tonnes a year, with mill feed from the Kansoko mine. A third six-million-tonne-a-year mine will then be developed at Kakula West, bringing total production to 18-million tonnes a year.

As resources at Kakula and Kansoko are mined, the PEA envisages that production will begin at several mines in the Kamoa North area to maintain the 18-million-tonne-a-year throughput over a 37-year mine life.

Each mining operation is expected to be a separate underground mine, with a shared processing facility and surface infrastructure located at Kakula.

Included in this scenario is the construction of a direct-to-blister flash copper smelter – with a capacity of one-million tonnes of copper concentrate a year, to be funded from in-house cash flows – at the Kakula plant site. This would be completed in Year 5 of operations, achieving significant savings in treatment charges and transportation costs.

The 18-million-tonne-a-year scenario delivers average production of 472 000 t/y of copper over the life-of-mine, with peak production of 740 000 t/y by Year 12.

Potential Job Creation
Ivanhoe has said that more than 4 400 employees and contractors are helping to build the Kakula mine, of whom 90% are Congolese nationals.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The Kakula PFS estimates an after-tax net present value (NPV), at an 8% discount rate, of $5.40-billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 46.90%, with a project payback of 2.6 years.

The Kamoa-Kakula PEA estimates an after-tax NPV, at an 8% discount rate, of $10-billion and an IRR of 41%, with a payback of 2.9 years.

Capital Expenditure
The Kakula PFS estimates a peak project funding of $1.1-billion.

The Kamoa-Kakula three-phase sequential operation envisages peak funding capital of $1.1-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Kakula is being fast-tracked to commercial production, with the mining operation scheduled to produce first concentrate in the third quarter of 2021.

Latest Developments
Underground development at the Kakula copper mine is continuing to advance ahead of schedule, with more than 15.4 km now complete, or 4.7 km ahead of plan.

In May, the mining team set its fifth consecutive monthly development record of 1 868 m of underground advancement – 535 m ahead of plan for the month.

In a statement on June 4, co-chairpersons Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun said major development at the Kakula mine was primarily in ore with an average grade of about 8% copper.

This ore is being placed on a dedicated, high-grade surface stockpile that now totals about 51 000 t, grading an estimated 5.86% copper.

An adjacent medium-grade stockpile contains about 306 000 t, grading an estimated 3.06% copper.

The high-grade stockpile is projected to significantly expand in the coming months as the majority of Kakula’s underground development will be in mining zones grading more than 5% copper.

Meanwhile, the fabrication of structural steel and key equipment for Kakula’s initial 3.8-million-tonne-a-year processing plant is progressing rapidly at manufacturing facilities in China, South Africa and Europe.

Fabrication of the second plant’s largest components – the ball mills – is nearing completion at CITIC Heavy Industries’ factory in Luoyang, China, and shipping of major components is under way.

About 100 truckloads of equipment for the processing plant are en route to the Kakula mine from the Port of Durban, in South Africa. 

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Amec Foster Wheeler E&C Services, DRA Global, KGHM Cuprum R&D Centre, OreWin, Stantec Consulting International and SRK Consulting (PFS and PEA).

Contact Details for Project Information
Ivanhoe Mines, tel +1604 688 6630 (North America)/+27 11088 4300 (South Africa) or email info@ivanhoemines.com.