(Kitco News) - Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) announced today that the Kamoa-Kakula Mining Complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo has set a new monthly production record in May, with 29,800 tonnes of copper in concentrate produced.
The company said that Kamoa Copper's record monthly production was achieved despite planned interruptions during the month, which allow Kamoa Copper to leverage the enhanced ore throughput rates at the front-end of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 plants.
Kamoa-Kakula milled 660,000 tonnes of ore during the month at an average feed grade of 5.5% copper, currently positioning the Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrator plants at a combined annualized processing rate of approximately 8 million tonnes, Ivanhoe added.
According to the company's statement, Kamoa Copper management anticipates that the accelerated ramp-up of the Phase 2 concentrator plant will enable Kamoa-Kakula to deliver in the upper end of its 2022 copper production guidance of 290,000 to 340,000 tonnes.
"The existing Phase 1 and 2 concentrators also will be de-bottlenecked and are expected to be operating at a combined throughput of 9.2 million tonnes of ore per year by the second quarter of 2023, which will increase Kamoa-Kakula's annual copper production to more than 450,000 tonnes. This production rate will rank Kamoa Copper as the world's fourth-largest copper producer," the company said in a statement.
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The company also noted that Phase 3 is expected to increase copper production capacity to approximately 600,000 tonnes per year by the fourth quarter of 2024, which will position Kamoa Copper as the world's third-largest copper mining complex, and the largest copper mining complex on the African continent.
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%).
