Kakula Copper Mine underground development continues significantly ahead of schedule; more than 17 kilometres now complete and 5.1 kilometres ahead of plan Monthly development in June well ahead of plan
July 6, 2020
Kakula Copper Mine underground development continues significantly ahead of schedule; more than 17 kilometres now complete and 5.1 kilometres ahead of plan
Monthly development in June well ahead of plan with 1,729 metres achieved
Kakula’s 2,000-tonne-per-hour ore conveyor system begins operation
All major equipment and the majority of structural steel now on site, or en route, for Kakula’s first phase 3.8-million-tonne-per- annum processing plant scheduled to begin operations in Q3 2021
Surface stockpiles now contain an estimated 68,000 tonnes of ore grading 5.90% copper and 394,000 tonnes of medium-grade ore grading 2.71% copper, including satellite stockpiles at Kakula South and Kansoko
KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN;
OTCQX:IVPAF) Co-Chairs Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun announced today that underground development at the Kakula Copper Mine continues to exceed expectations with more than 17 kilometres now complete, which is 5.1 kilometres ahead of schedule. In June, the mining team achieved 1,729 metres of underground development – 575 metres ahead of plan for the month.
Kakula’s 2,000-tonne-per-hour ore conveyor system began operations in June, which will further increase the mine’s pace of underground development.
The majority of the development headings at the Kakula Mine currently are traversing medium-grade sections of the orebody, with average grades ranging between 3% and 5% copper. Several development headings are continuing in high-grade zones grading more than 8% copper, and this ore is being placed on a dedicated, high-grade surface stockpile at Kakula North that now totals approximately 68,000 tonnes grading an estimated 5.90% copper. The medium-grade surface stockpiles at Kakula North, Kakula South and Kansoko together contain an additional 394,000 tonnes grading an estimated 2.71% copper.
As Kakula’s underground development progresses over the next few months, the majority of the headings are expected to transition into the high-grade ore zones.
More than 200 truck loads, consisting mainly of structural steel and equipment for Kakula’s initial 3.8-million-tonne-per-annum processing plant, were received on site in June and construction of the plant is progressing rapidly. Fabrication of the plant’s largest components – two ball mills each measuring 9.75 metres (32 feet) long and 6.1 metres (20 feet) in diameter – has been completed at CITIC Heavy Industries’ factory in Luoyang, China, and shipping of the components is underway.
The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the DRC government (20%).
Aerial view of the Kakula Mine showing the tonnes and grade of the main pre- production stockpiles. The northern declines and ore conveyor system are circled in red and the processing plant is in the upper right corner.
Kakula southern decline and ore stockpile containing approximately 38,000 tonnes of medium-grade ore.
Kansoko decline and ore stockpile containing approximately 35,000 tonnes of medium-grade ore.
Kakula’s high-capacity ore conveyor system begins operation
Kakula’s decline conveyor system that will transport ore from underground to surface now is operational. Final commissioning of the full system (including the fire suppression system and all safety components) is underway and is scheduled to be completed around mid-July. The conveyor system has the capacity to transport 2,000 tonnes of ore per hour from underground to surface.
The conveyor system substantially shortens the haulage distance for the mine’s truck fleet; significantly increasing productivity, and lowering mining and maintenance costs.
Construction of the surface conveyor system has commenced and the first steel has been delivered to site. The surface conveyor system will transport ore from the decline conveyor system to the main processing plant stockpile. Forecast completion date is scheduled for Q1 2021.
Kakula’s first ore being transported to surface on the new conveyor system.
Click here to watch a short video of the first ore being delivered to surface via the new rock-handling conveyor system: https://player.vimeo.com/video/431759826
Click here to watch a short video of the first ore being dumped into an underground ore bin for conveyance to surface:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/433659430
A 63-tonne Sandvik truck dumps the first load of ore into Kakula’s east tip bin, for transportation to surface via the new conveyor system.
Mioi Kabinda (left) and Kifumbe Bijimba (right) with the newly-installed magnet and rock breaker at the east ore tip bin, part of the underground ore handling system at the Kakula Mine.
Team members from DRC-based Kamoa Kakula Construction Company (KKCC), mark the completion of erecting the high-capacity decline conveyor system that now is transporting copper ore from Kakula’s underground workings to surface.
Development of the Kakula Mine, the first deposit to be placed into production on the 400square-kilometre Kamoa-Kakula mining licence, is well ahead of schedule. Mine access drives 1 and 2 (interconnected, parallel tunnels that will provide access to ore zones) continue to progress well towards the southern portion of the orebody.
Development also is well advanced on the eastern perimeter drives and the room-and-pillar mining area. Development from the southern portal has reached south access drives 1 and 2, with mining crews working to establish the connection of these drives with mine access drives 1 and 2 from the north side of the orebody. The northern and southern access drives are scheduled to be joined by the end of October 2020.
Underground mining also is occurring at the Kansoko Mine, located at the Kamoa deposit approximately 10 kilometres north of the Kakula Mine. Kansoko is development ready and currently is being used to train young Congolese mining crews.
The main surface exhaust ventilation fans (VS#2) are progressing well with fan fabrication on schedule and the ventilation shaft raise boring complete. The NE#1 fan station pilot hole has commenced with fabrication of the fans scheduled to start this month. The third underground water pumping train at Kakula’s main decline pumping chamber has been commissioned, increasing the mine’s pumping capacity to 600 litres per second.
In parallel with the construction of Kamoa-Kakula’s phase 1 Kakula Mine, work is progressing on the independent Kakula definitive feasibility study (DFS) and an updated Integrated Development Plan for the entire Kamoa-Kakula mining complex, which is expected to be finalized this month. The Integrated Development Plan will include details on the planned expansion phases for the greater Kamoa-Kakula mining complex, incorporating updates for mineral resources, production rates and economic analysis.
Figure 1: The 13.3-kilometre-long Kakula Deposit showing the first five years of planned underground development and production (in the black box at the eastern end of the deposit) focused on the pink area containing average copper grades greater than 8% copper.
More detail of current underground development progress and planned development over the next three and six months is shown in figures 2, 3 & 4.
Kakula North Decline
Kakula South Decline
Figure 2: Underground development completed to the end of June (in purple) and scheduled development (green, brown, blue & black) over the next quarter. Shown are the 3%, 5% and 8% copper contours and the location where the northern and southern access drives are scheduled to join by the end of October (red star).
Figure 3: Underground development completed to the end of June (in purple) and scheduled mine development over the three months ending December 31, 2020. Majority of the development during this period will be in the initial drift-and-fill mining area (circled in red) within Kakula’s high-grade zone (+8% copper).
Figure 4: The eastern portion of Kakula Mine ─ representing less than half of the overall 13.3-kilometre-long Kakula Deposit ─ overlain on southern Manhattan Island to give a sense of the enormous scale of the underground operations.
Kakula’s team members (L-R) Timothe Kabeya, Jean Luc Kadita, Epwila Kundjuka, Nkulu Nsungu with one of the project’s newly commissioned Epiroc 282 double-boom, semi-autonomous drill rigs.
Construction progress on the processing plant and other surface infrastructure remains on track for initial production in Q3 2021
Construction of Kamoa’s 3.8-million tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) concentrator plant is progressing well, with more than15,000 cubic metres of concrete being poured to date. Concrete bases for the ball mills, flotation plant and the concentrate thickener have been partially handed over to the mechanical contractor to commence installation work, and steel erection is currently underway in the flotation and thickener areas. Approximately 3,600 tonnes of structural steel had been shipped from China by end of June.
Beijing-based CITIC Construction has been awarded the construction contract for Kakula’s phase 1 backfill paste plant. The backfill plant will be used to blend tailings from the processing plant with cement to produce paste backfill. The backfill will be pumped back into the mine and used to help support mined-out areas. Approximately 55% of the mine’s tailings will be sent back underground, significantly reducing the surface tailings storage.
The Electrical & Instrumentation contract was recently awarded to T3 Construction, a leading South African construction company. This is the final major construction contract required for Kakula’s processing and backfill plants.
Construction of the tailings dam has commenced and is progressing well, the aim is to complete most of the earthworks during the dry season before the rainy season starts in November.
Aerial view of ongoing construction of Kamoa’s 3.8 Mtpa processing plant.