During its first quarter of production, ended September 30, TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines’ Kamoa-Kakula joint venture, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sold 41 490 t of payable copper and recognised revenue of $342.6-million.

It achieved an operating profit of $209.7-million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $233.2-million.

The initial 2021 production guidance range for copper-in-concentrate of between 80 000 t and 95 000 t was raised to between 92 500 t and 100 000 t, reflecting the successful completion of ramp-up of the Kakula Phase 1 concentrator.

Kamoa-Kakula's cost of sales per pound of payable copper sold was $1.08/lb during its first quarter, while cash costs (C1) per pound of payable copper totalled $1.37/lb.

Costs for the quarter reflect the measured ramp-up of production at Kamoa-Kakula to steady state and are expected to trend downward as the Phase 2 concentrator plant is commissioned and the mine's fixed operating costs are spread over increased copper production, Ivanhoe said on November 15.

Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 2 construction is progressing well toward a start-up in the second quarter of 2022, which the miner said would see a doubling of the mine's nameplate milling throughput to 7.6-million tonnes a year.

Phases 1 and 2 combined are forecast to produce about 400 000 t/y of copper.

The Kamoa-Kakula project began producing copper in May and achieved commercial production on July 1. Production for the third quarter was 4 545 t of copper-in-concentrate, with year-to-date production of more than 77 500 t as of November 15.

Ivanhoe Mines is also advancing development of the Platreef palladium/rhodium/platinum/nickel/copper/gold discovery in South Africa, which is scheduled to begin production in 2024, and is upgrading the historic Kipushi zinc/copper/lead/germanium mine, also in the DRC, for a resumption of production.

Ivanhoe is also exploring for new copper discoveries on its Western Foreland exploration licences in the DRC, near the Kamoa-Kakula project, the miner confirmed.

Ivanhoe Mines recorded a profit of $85.4-million for the third quarter of 2021, compared with a loss of $5.3-million for the same period in 2020.

The company's share of profit from the Kamoa-Kakula joint venture and the finance income therefrom were the principal contributors to the profit recorded in the current quarter, where the company has a strong balance sheet with cash and cash equivalents of $579.7-million on hand as at September 30, 2021, and expects that the majority of Kamoa-Kakula's expansion capital expenditure on Phase 2 and Phase 3 will be funded from copper sales and facilities in place at Kamoa.

Based on current market conditions, Ivanhoe anticipates that shareholder loan repayments from Kamoa-Kakula will start in 2022.

During the third quarter, Ivanhoe continued its 2021 copper exploration programme on its Western Foreland licences that cover about 2 550 km² in close proximity to Kamoa-Kakula.

Work in the third quarter was primarily focused on completing the project's infrastructure programme, which was needed to allow Ivanhoe's drilling crews to access the highly-prospective exploration licences located to the south and west of the Kamoa and Kakula orebodies.

Geophysical surveys were advanced during the quarter and are either complete or are nearing completion, Ivanhoe said, noting that drilling during the quarter was focused on extending the copper discoveries at Makoko and Kiala.

Further, Platreef's updated feasibility study for the phased development plan is progressing well toward completion in early 2022.

All design and engineering work has been completed with the cost estimates well advanced. The Shaft 1 changeover is progressing well in preparation for permanent rock hoisting in early 2022. Construction activities on the Shaft 2 headframe are also advancing.

The initial scope of the phased development plan is to fast-track Platreef into production in 2024, starting with an initial 700 000 t/y underground mine.

The plan is designed to establish an operating platform to support potential future expansions up to 12-million tonnes of ore a year, which the miner said would position Platreef among the largest nickel- and platinum-group-metals-producing mines in the world, producing in excess of 24 000 t of nickel and 1.1-million ounces of palladium, rhodium, platinum, and gold a year, and help feed the demand for these critical minerals that the world needs as it transitions to a low carbon economy.

Ivanhoe said on Monday that financing arrangements for Platreef's first phase of development are nearing completion, which include a $300-million gold, palladium and platinum streaming facility, and a senior project debt facility of up to $120-million.