The Kamoa-Kakula copper project decline development contract has been won by the leading Chinese mining contractor JCHX through its DRC subsidiary JMMC. JMMC Managing Director Jianzhong Zhang told IM: “We were awarded this decline contract in DRC after almost two years of hard work. I signed the contract on October 19 and the contract duration will be 15 months including mobilisation, most of which is already done. We had already mobilised everything into Kamoa and the first blast took place in early November.”
He added: “As you know Kamoa-Kakula will be the third biggest copper mine in the world, and JMMC’s participation will bring not only our mining technology but also our concept of less cost and high productivity. This is the first mining construction project for JCHX in DRC and I am sure this will be significant and a milestone for JCHX’s overseas strategy.”
Kamoa-Kakula, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining, has been independently ranked as the largest copper discovery ever made on the African continent. Kamoa-Kakula also includes adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt in the DRC. It is approximately 25 km west of the town of Kolwezi and 270 km west of Lubumbashi. The combined Indicated Mineral Resources for the entire Kamoa-Kakula Project presently total 1.101 billion tonnes grading 2.85% copper, containing 69.2 billion pounds of copper at a 1.0% copper cut-off grade and a minimum thickness of 3 m. Kamoa-Kakula also has Inferred Mineral Resources of 244 Mt grading 2.12% copper and containing 11.5 billion pounds of copper, also at a 1.0% copper cut-off grade and a minimum thickness of 3 m.
Ivanhoe stated in its latest update: “The contractor, CREC 9, completed the box-cut excavation, support and civil works at the end of October 2017. The Kakula decline development contract has been awarded to JMMC, a DRC subsidiary of JCHX. The first blast for the twin declines at Kakula is scheduled for mid-November 2017. Depending on ground conditions, the 3,600 m decline development contract is scheduled for completion by the end of 2018.”