The ramp-up of the copper oxide and copper sulphide circuit at the Project Roan copper concentrator near Kitwe, in Zambia, was scheduled to start this month, according to diversified metal recovery business Jubilee Metals’ interim results for the six months ended December 31, 2021.

Project Roan – besides Project Lechwe and Project Elephant – is one of three tailings sites secured by the company through a joint venture (JV) agreement in 2020. The three sites comprise 300-million tonnes of copper and cobalt tailings. Jubilee aims to construct a processing facility at each of the three locations.

Part of the company’s Southern Copper Refining Strategy, the Roan copper concentrator entered its commissioning phase after the period under review. The final integration of the circuit was scheduled for completion in March, with full ramp-up of Roan’s production expected to follow in the second quarter of this year.

Hence, Jubilee is rapidly nearing the completion of its Southern Copper Refining Strategy in Zambia.

“The Roan concentrator will have the ability to produce an additional 10 000 t/y of copper, which will be refined at the Sable refinery, delivering the fully integrated Southern Copper Refining Strategy as we move our project focus to the Northern Refining Strategy,” says Jubilee Metals CEO Leon Coetzer.

On completion, the Project Roan transaction will increase Jubilee’s beneficial interest in the tailings project from 80% to 100% and rights to an estimated additional 6.6-million tonnes of copper tailings near the processing facility. Jubilee will also hold the option to convert the lease agreement for the property, on which the Roan processing facility is located, to direct ownership.

Copper production at the multimetal Sable refinery, adjacent to the company’s Kabwe tailings resource, increased to 1 314 t during the period under review to ensure operational readiness to accept first copper concentrate production from Project Roan. This is 70% higher than the 774 t reported for the first half of last year.

Sable delivered increased positive earnings as part of its operational readiness activities, with attributable operational earnings of £3.3-million for the period under review, compared with £1.8-million for the first half of 2021.

The Sable Refinery, which acts as a central processing facility for third-party material in the region, provides access to a current resource, comprising an estimated 6.4-million tonnes of surface waste assets containing zinc, lead and vanadium pentoxide, in addition to copper and cobalt tailings of about 300-million tonnes that Jubilee secured through the 2020 JV.

Northern Refining Strategy

The Northern Refining Strategy is set to more than double Jubilee’s copper production, and introduce and materially expand its cobalt production.

Part of the company’s Northern Refining Strategy, Project Lechwe, near Ndola, is Jubilee’s second planned copper processing facility in Zambia and final pilot runs are under way to confirm the design work.

Project Lechwe, whereby Jubilee has secured the rights to about 150-million tonnes of copper-containing surface tailings, targets production of 7 500 t/y of copper by the second quarter of 2023.

Project Elephant, in the Kitwe area, targets the production of 10 200 t/y of copper. Jubilee subsidiary Braemore acquired a further 23% beneficial interest in the TD52 tailings dam portion of the overall project, increasing the company’s interest to 80.75%. TD52 holds the highest contained copper and cobalt in the larger Project Elephant’s 114-million-tonne tailings resource, at 0.7% copper and 0.08% cobalt.

“The Northern Refining Strategy currently targets the production of an additional 15 000 t of copper, but has the potential to be significantly expanded, based on the sheer size of opportunities offered in copper and cobalt recovery from waste in Zambia,” explains Coetzer.

Jubilee says it is not only addressing the physical legacies of historical mining operations by rehabilitating the environment and clearing away pollution through its processing of remnant mining residues and waste material but is also doing so in a manner that improves the quality of life of those living in proximity of these installations.