PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A study for the debottlenecking of the Kipoi solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) plant, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has revealed that copper production could be increased from the nameplate capacity of 25 000 t/y to 32 500 t/y.
Project owner Tiger Resources on Friday said the debottlenecking project, which would require a capital investment of some $25-million, could result in an average life-of-mine operating cost of $1.27/lb.
The debottlenecking study used the existing Kipoi reserve of 50.5-million tonnes, grading 1.4% copper for 689 000 t of copper.
The heap leach feed schedule was optimised to provide sufficient recoverable copper to sustain production at 25 000 t/y and ramping up to 32 500 t/y in late 2016.
The optimsation presumed the resumption of mining in the third quarter of 2016. The production schedule was based solely on Kipoi Central ore feed, with ore in later years to be sourced from Kipoi North and Kileba.
Tiger noted that the debottlenecking work was expected to be completed within an eight-month period, meaning if work started in the fourth quarter of this year, the project would be completed by the third quarter of 2016.
Meanwhile, Tiger on Friday also reported record copper cathode production of 6 732 t for the quarter ended June. This was up from the 5 723 t of copper cathode produced in the March quarter.
Copper cathode sales for the quarter also reached a record 6 972 t at a realised average price of $6 154/t, this compared with the 6 314 t sold during the previous quarter.
The miner noted that it was on track to produce in excess of 25 000 t of copper cathode for the full 2015.