Mining News
Ivanhoe reports record copper production at Kamoa-Kakula in Q1 2022
(Kitco News) - Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) announced Monday that the Kamoa-Kakula Mining Complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo has set a new quarterly production record in the first quarter of 2022, with 55,602 tonnes of copper in concentrate produced.
The company said that the Kamoa-Kakula Phase 2, 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum concentrator plant successfully declared commercial production on April 7, 2022. In addition, Kamoa-Kakula set a new daily production record on April 8, 2022, with 25,126 tonnes milled and 1,202 tonnes of copper produced.
The company added that management now expects that the early commissioning of the Phase 2 concentrator plant will enable Kamoa Copper to reach the upper end of its 2022 copper production guidance of 290,000 to 340,000 tonnes.
Ivanhoe also noted that during the first 17 days of production, Phase 2 regularly exceeded its design throughput capacity, and continues to perform at similar throughput and recovery rates as the Phase 1 concentrator.
|
|
Fortuna Silver ups gold production 93% in Q1, silver output down 13% |
"Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrator plants now are both in commercial production. Kamoa Copper will increase its annualized copper production rate to more than 400,000 tonnes from this month forward," the company said in a statement.
Ivanhoe pointed out that Kamoa-Kakula is the world's fastest growing and highest-grade major copper mining complex. Based on independent benchmarking, the project's phased expansion scenario to 19 Mtpa would position Kamoa-Kakula as the world's second-largest copper mining complex, with peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes.
The Kamoa-Kakula Mining Complex is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (20%).
