Kakula Copper Mine underground development exceeds 1,840 metres in August; more than 20.6 kilometres now complete Installation of ball mills and other major equipment for Kakula’s first 3.8-million-tonne-per-annum processing plant well underway
September 1, 2020
Kakula Copper Mine underground development exceeds 1,840 metres in August; more than 20.6 kilometres now complete
Installation of ball mills and other major equipment for Kakula’s first 3.8-million-tonne-per-annum processing plant well underway
Second mining crew added at the Kansoko Mine, increasing the pace of underground development at Kamoa-Kakula’s second mine
Pre-production surface stockpiles at Kakula North, Kakula South and Kansoko now contain an estimated 671,000 tonnes of ore
Ivanhoe Mines to issue independent definitive feasibility study and expansion studies for the entire Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project on September 8, 2020; host Investor Day on September 10, 2020
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 totalled 1,842 metres in August, bringing the cumulative total underground development completed to date to more than 20.6 kilometres – approximately 6.0 kilometres ahead of schedule.
The majority of the underground development headings at the Kakula Mine currently are traversing medium-grade sections of the orebody, with average grades ranging between 3% and 5% copper. A concentrated effort was made in August to complete the ledging development in the room-and-pillar section of the mine to accommodate critical infrastructure, such as piping and electrical cabling, for the mine’s permanent water- handling system.
The ledging development work will be completed early this month and will allow the mining teams to begin highly-productive stoping operations; however, the development work was in lower-grade ore and resulted in a temporary, modest decrease in overall stockpile grade in August and early September.
The stockpile grade is expected to improve, as planned, beginning this month as the majority of the working areas will transition to the higher-grade ore zones near the centre of the deposit that have copper grades approximately +5% to +8%.
The beneficial handover of the high-capacity ore conveyor system at the Kakula North declines was achieved at the end of July. All of the ore being mined in the northern portion of the Kakula Mine now is transported to surface via the conveyor system and placed on a blended, run-of-mine surface stockpile. The blended stockpile contains 483,000 tonnes grading an estimated 3.76% copper; comprised of 116,000 tonnes of high-grade ore grading 6.08% copper and 367,000 tonnes of medium-grade ore grading 3.02% copper.
Two additional, pre-production ore stockpiles are located at the Kakula South decline (approximately 121,000 tonnes grading 2.36% copper) and the Kansoko decline (approximately 68,000 tonnes grading 2.21% copper). More than 109,000 tonnes of ore was added to the project’s pre-production stockpiles in August.
Surface conveyor systems to transport the ore from the Kakula North stockpile to the processing plant are under construction.
First copper production expected in less than a year
Initial production at the Kakula Mine is scheduled for Q3 2021. Kakula is projected to be the world’s highest-grade major copper mine, with an initial mining rate of 3.8 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) at an estimated average feed grade well in excess of 6% copper over the first five years of operation.
The Kakula Mine will have one of the most favourable environmental footprints of any tier-one copper mine anywhere in the world. The mine will be powered by clean, renewable hydroelectricity and be among the world's lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced. Kakula also will have a relatively small surface footprint as approximately 55% of the mine’s tailings will be pumped back into underground workings.
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%).
“Together with our joint-venture partners, we look forward to sharing the independently verified engineering and economic studies on September 8th that will showcase why Kamoa-Kakula is, without question, the world’s best new copper project,” said Mr. Friedland. “Kamoa-Kakula is unique as it combines ultra-high-copper grades with thick, shallow, flat-lying ore zones, providing the economies of scale and low mining costs of large, open-pit mining operations, but without the visual environmental impact associated with open-pit mining.”
“We also plan to soon announce the appointment of a leading environmental consulting firm to audit Kamoa-Kakula’s greenhouse gas intensity metrics, providing Environmental, Social and Governance investors with independent and transparent verification of the project’s achievements towards our goal of producing the world’s greenest copper,” Mr. Friedland added.
Aerial view of the Kakula Mine showing the tonnes and grade of the main pre- production stockpiles at the northern declines. The stockpile currently contains approximately 483,000 tonnes grading 3.76% copper; comprised of approximately 116,000 tonnes at 6.08% copper and 367,000 at 3.02% copper.
Kakula southern decline medium-grade ore stockpile currently containing approximately 121,000 tonnes grading 2.36% copper.
Kansoko decline medium-grade ore stockpile currently containing approximately 68,000 tonnes grading 2.21% copper.
Kakula Mine development progressing towards zone of +8% copper in centre of deposit
Underground development of the Kakula Mine – the first of multiple, near-surface copper deposits that are planned to be put into production on the 400-square-kilometre Kamoa-Kakula mining licence – is now significantly ahead of schedule. Mine access drives 1 and 2 (interconnected, parallel tunnels that will provide access to ore zones) being driven from the Kakula northern declines continue to advance towards the southern portion of the orebody.
Development of the eastern perimeter drives also is well advanced as are the access drives to the room-and-pillar mining area. Development of twin access drives being driven from Kakula’s southern portal has reached the +5% copper mining zone, with mining crews working to establish the connection of these drives with mine access drives 1 and 2 from the northern side of the orebody. The northern and southern access drives are expected to join in November 2020, which will be a major milestone in the development of the Kakula orebody.
Once the northern and southern access drives are connected, the majority of mining activities will focus on the initial drift-and-fill mining blocks in the centre of the Kakula deposit, where the average grade is higher than 8% copper. Drift-and-fill stoping is a highly-efficient form of underground mechanized mining and will allow the operation to efficiently recover significantly more tonnes from the orebody.
Underground mining with two mining crews also is taking place at the Kansoko Mine, located at the Kamoa deposit, approximately 10 kilometres north of the Kakula Mine.
The construction of Kakula’s second permanent underground water-handling system is nearing completion with the first of four pump trains commissioned in early August; the second pump train was commissioned in the last week of August. The new system adds 800 litres per second of underground pumping capacity, bringing the total installed capacity to 1,400 litres per second. Two additional underground water dams are under construction; one at bottom of the southern declines, and one along the north eastern perimeter drifts.
Ivanhoe plans to issue the independent definitive feasibility study for the development of the 6 Mtpa Kakula Mine on September 8, 2020. The company also will issue a pre- feasibility study, including mining 1.6 Mtpa from the Kansoko Mine, to take full advantage of an expanded plant capacity of 7.6 Mtpa at Kakula. In addition, the company will issue an updated, expanded preliminary economic assessment for the overall development plan of up to 19 Mtpa for all of the copper discoveries made to date at the Kamoa-Kakula Project.
Martin Nkulu, conveyor belt attendant, monitoring high-grade copper ore being delivered to surface via the Kakula North decline conveyor, which has the capacity to transport 2,000 tonnes of ore an hour.
A load of copper ore being transported up the Kakula South decline. One of the two southern access drives has entered the +5%-copper mining zone, while the other will enter it shortly. The southern access drives are expected to join the northern access drives in November.
Kasongo Mahji at a surface settling pond for Kakula’s second permanent underground dewatering pipe system that was commissioned in early August.
Figure 1: 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 scale of the underground operations.
Figure 2: Underground development completed to the end of July (in black) and scheduled development (green, brown, blue & black) until September 30, 2020. Shown are the 3%, 5% and 8% copper contours and the location where the northern and southern access drives are scheduled to join in November 2020 (red circle).
Figure 3: Underground development completed to the end of July (in black) 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 within Kakula’s high-grade zone (+8% copper).
Construction on the processing plant and other surface infrastructure rapidly progressing
Construction of Kakula’s initial, 3.8-Mtpa concentrator plant is progressing well, with approximately 20,000 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 mechanical erection and installation is underway in most of the plant areas. Structural steel fabrication is complete with more than half of the approximately 6,000 tonnes of structural steel already delivered to site. Fabrication of platework and piping is progressing according to schedule with the first deliveries already on site; platework installation has started.
Total steel prefabricated or installed is approximately 2,000 tonnes. All floor and sidewall plates for the concentrate thickener now are in position, and welding is 40% complete.
Installation of the tailings thickener has commenced, with the centre column being placed in position and welding of the floor plates underway. Pre-assembly of the high- pressure grinding rolls feed bin #1 conveyor has started. Both secondary crushers have been assembled and placed in position. Installation of the first ball mill shell has been completed.
All 21 oversized truck loads of equipment for the processing plant’s primary ball mill − measuring 9.75 metres (32 feet) long and 6.1 metres (20 feet) in diameter – have arrived on site. The final shipments of the ball mill components are scheduled to arrive at site this month, which will be the final deliveries of long-lead plant equipment.
Beijing-based CITIC Construction is building Kakula’s first-phase, 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.
Construction of the tailings dam has commenced and is progressing well; with the aim to complete most of the earthworks before the rainy season starts in November.
Led by the 400-tonne crane, a convoy of trucks carrying steel and equipment en route to the Kamoa-Kakula Project. The last truckloads of long-lead items for the processing plant are expected to arrive at site before the end of September.
Ongoing construction of Kakula’s 3.8-Mtpa processing plant. Members of Kamoa-Kakula’s construction team in front of one of the ball mill shells prior to it being lifted into place by a 400-tonne crane (second picture below).
| To view a short, time-lapse video of the installation of the first of three ball mill | |
| shells, click here: | https://vimeo.com/451270670 |
The 400-tonne crane lifts a platform section for the flotation cells into positon.