Copper miner Tiger Resources has set a new quarterly production record at its 60%-owned Kipoi copper project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Tiger produced 12 123 t of copper in concentrate from its heavy-media separation plant in the September quarter.

This is 35% higher than the plant’s nameplate capacity and 9% higher than the previous quarterly production record.

The company attributes this achievement to a world-class project and an outstanding team.

Tiger produced 4 020 t in July, 3 998 t in August and 4 105 t in September. It has produced 32 727 t of copper in concentrate to date.

With this achievement, the company is on track to produce between 41 000 t and 43 000 t of copper in concentrate in 2013.

Full production and operating costs will be detailed in the company’s ‘September Quarterly Activities’ report, to be released later this month.

“Our Kipoi plant continues to impress us with its ability to operate consistently above its nameplate capacity. It is pleasing that we have been able to achieve two consecutive quarters of record production,” says Tiger MD Brad Marwood.

Tiger increased copper stockpiles at Kipoi to 4.7-million tons at a grade of 2.5% for 115.3 kt contained copper last month. The stockpiles will be used as feed to supply the Stage 2 solvent-extraction electrowinning (SX-EW) plant in 2014 and 2015.

Meanwhile, the company announced the terms of an agreement for the offtake of copper cathodes from its Kipoi project and a $50-million advance payment facility with commodity trader Gerald Metals last week.

The agreement involves Gerald and Société d’Exploitation de Kipoi, the operator of Kipoi, in which Tiger has a 60% interest.

The offtake is for a fixed quantity of 100 000 t of copper cathode from the Stage 2 SXEW plant, which is currently under construction at Kipoi, and is on schedule for commissioning in the second quarter of 2014.

The offtake is on transparent and competitive terms, with 2 000 t/m of cathodes to be delivered during the initial Phase 1 SXEW operations, increasing to 2 500 t/m after the proposed capacity expansion of the plant to 50 000 t/y has been realised.

The $50-million advance payment will be available for immediate drawdown after the customary conditions precedent have been met, which includes registration of security documents. The advance payment facility is available to support construction of the Phase 1 SXEW plant and for general corporate purposes relating to Kipoi operations.

The terms include an interest rate of 12 months London Interbank Offered Rate plus 3.5% and repayment in 12 equal monthly installments, with the first payment due in July 2014.

“We are very pleased to have arranged the $50-million advance payment against the 100 000 t of Kipoi copper cathodes. Strong offers were received from eight leading international copper trading houses that partici- pated in our tender process. This reflects positively on their assessment of Kipoi and the project’s capacity to deliver copper cathodes in the DRC,” Marwood says.