Ivanhoe Mines has announced copper produc-tion at its Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is to begin with a month’s time. The company reports accelerated construction and commissioning progress at the phase 1 Kamoa-Kakula concentrator plant.
“The target date for C4 commissioning (milling of ore and first copper concentrate production) has been advanced to the end May or early June – several months ahead of schedule,” Ivanhoe Mines said in a statement.
The business says that pre-production ore stockpiles hold about 3 million tonnes grading 4.74% copper which contain more than 140,000 tonnes of copper.
Mark Farren, Kamoa Copper’s CEO, said that the “stockpile likely is to grow further as our monthly mining rate currently exceeds the Phase 1 milling rate, and only should be drawn down once the Phase 2 concentrator begins operation in mid-2022.”