Modern Mining November 2019

COPPER

Initial Kakula processing plant capacity boosted to 3,8 Mt/a

6 Mt/a. Further study work will determine the amount of tonnes to be sourced from the Kansoko mine, or elsewhere, to maximise the full milling capacity of 7,6 Mt/a. Any plans to accelerate the second mod- ule of Kakula’s processing plant would be subject to securing the necessary project-level financing. Kakula’s original 3,0 Mt/a first processing plant module has already been redesigned during the basic engineering phase to a nameplate capacity of 3,8 Mt/a. Purchase orders have been placed for all major long-lead time mechanical equipment, plant earthworks are well advanced, and plant civil works have started. The contract for the SMPP (structural, mechanical, piping and platework) supply and erec- tion portion of the plant construction has recently been awarded. The updated estimate of the project’s initial capital cost is approximately US$1,3 billion (from January 1, 2019), which assumes commissioning of the processing plant in Q3-2021. The capital costs incurred by the Kamoa-Kakula joint venture during the first nine months of 2019 were US$182,5 million. According to Ivanhoe’s latest quarterly report (on the three months to 30 September 2019), the underground development work at Kakula is being

Following the completion of basic engineering and procurement, as part of the forthcoming DFS, initial processing plant capac- ity at the new Kakula copper mine in the DRC has been increased from 3,0 Mt/a to 3,8 Mt/a, boosting projected early-stage copper production. Located 25 km west of the town of Kolwezi in the DRC’s Lualaba Province, Kakula – already well into the development phase – forms part of the Kamoa-Kakula project, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin.

T he expansion in initial plant capacity will require increasing the underground mining crews in 2020 from 11 to 14 to ensure sufficient mining operations to feed the expanded plant throughput. This will have the benefit of producing a larger surface stockpile of ore prior to the sched- uled commissioning of the processing plant, as well as accelerating the mine development schedule, providing the opportunity to bring forward the com- mencement of the second phase of development at Kakula. The second 3,8 Mt/a plant module will be fed from the Kakula mine at a planned full production rate of

An LHD scoop tram loads development ore into a 50-tonne truck at Kakula for transport to surface.

30  MODERN MINING  November 2019