Ivanhoe Mines Executive Chairman Robert Friedland and Chief Executive Officer Lars-Eric Johansson this week announced that the Kamoa-Kakula mine development team has celebrated the first blast marking the start of work on the twin declines at the ultra-high-grade Kakula Copper Discovery on the company’s Tier One Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project, near the mining centre of Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Kakula box cut was successfully completed on October 26, 2017, and the first blast for the twin declines at Kakula took place on November 16, 10 days ahead of schedule. The Kakula decline development work is being undertaken by JMMC, a DRC subsidiary of JCHX Mining Management of Beijing, China. Depending on ground conditions, the 3,600 m decline development contract is scheduled for completion in approximately one year.
In response to the spectacular exploration success at the Kakula Discovery, Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining are fast-tracking the mine development program at Kakula. The Kakula Copper Deposit is a gently-dipping blanket of thick, chalcocite-rich copper mineralisation. Initial mine development is planned to begin in the flat, near-surface zone which, at a 3% cut-off, is between 7.1 m and 11.7 m thick and with copper grades between 8.11% and 10.35% along the deposit’s axis.
Fourteen rigs are continuing to drill at Kamoa-Kakula, including 10 rigs focused on expanding and upgrading the resources in the Kakula high-grade zone along trend to the west and southeast. A fresh resource estimate for Kakula is being prepared and is expected to result in a major upgrade and expansion of the Kakula Mineral Resources.
The new Kamoa-Kakula Project PEA is progressing well and is expected to be completed this quarter. The PEA is based on an initial mine capacity of 6 Mt/y at Kakula, using the May 2017 Mineral Resource estimate, with an additional 6 Mt/y mine at Kansoko, serving a centralised concentrator at Kakula, for a projected mine production of approximately 12 Mtpa from the presently delineated Kamoa and Kakula deposits.
In addition to the new PEA study, preliminary work is underway on a 6 Mt/y pre-feasibility study at Kakula that will be based on the upcoming, January 2018 resource model. The study will be considered as the base case for the first phase of development at Kamoa-Kakula. In light of the successful step-out drilling at Kakula West, the Kamoa-Kakula development plans will be reassessed and amended as the project moves forward.
Potential phased mine developments of up to 18 Mt/y also are being assessed for the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex.
