Ivanhoe Mines plans to fast-track its phase 3 expansion at the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The project will be partially funded from its newly accomplished, $575mn convertible senior notes financing.
The Canadian miner and its joint venture (JV) partner, China’s Zijin Mining, previously moved phase 2 production into Q3 2022, which will increase copper output to 400,000mt per year.
At this time, the company will further increase production at the copper JV and accelerate the phase 3 concentrator expansion from 7.6mn mt per year to 11.4mn mt per year, Ivanhoe stated in a news release.
The Phase 3 expansion will boost copper production at Kamoa-Kakula up to approximately 530,000mt per annum. Currently, phase 1 of Kamoa-Kakula’s 3.8mn mt per year concentrator is close to completion, with the civil works for the second 3.8mn mt per year concentrator quickly approaching.
The Kamoa-Kakula project involves five phases totally in increments of 3.8mn mt each per year. Upon completion, the operation will hold 19mn mt of production each year and beyond, including a smelter.
As projects are being achieved on the site, the funding will also be used to expand and speed up a copper exploration course on the company’s Western Foreland exploration licenses, which are near the Kamoa-Kakula site.