AMN - DRC: Kakula Copper Mine development advances

Underground development at Ivanhoe Mines' Kakula Copper Mine at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project in the DRC has reached the high-grade ore within the deposit. This comes as mining advances towards zones containing in excess of 8% copper.

The advancement of the first connecting underground drift, designed to tunnel through the centre of the high-grade ore body and open up the mine’s initial mineral reserves, has reached the edge of the high-grade ore.

Grades of approximately 4% copper have been returned from sampling and grades are expected to significantly increase as the development crews advance the drifts toward the deposit’s central mining zones.

The project's geology manager David Edwards said, “This intersection marks a significant milestone in the context of our exploration and development efforts at Kamoa-Kakula that began more than 13 years ago.

“Now that you can see and touch Kakula’s high-grade copper ore, it really hits home that we are well underway toward building the first of multiple high-grade copper mines in the area.”

The Kakula connection drift is being developed to rapidly gain access to the highest grades in the centre of the deposit, and also connect with the Kakula South ventilation decline to increase the airflow to the underground working areas in the large-scale mechanized Kakula mining operation, allowing for more development and production mining crews.

The thick, ultra-high-grade mining zones in the centre of the Kakula deposit are expected to be intersected in the second half of 2020.

The high-grade ore is being stored on a dedicated run-of-mine stockpile on surface near the planned processing plant to ensure that there is plenty of ore to feed the processing plant during commissioning and ramp-up.

The project is on schedule to produce first copper concentrate in Q3 2021, with the construction of the Kakula Mine continuing at a rapid pace. Underground development is being performed by mining crews operating large-capacity, semi-autonomous mining equipment, such as jumbo drilling rigs, load haul dumpers and 50-tonne trucks.

Work on the decline rock handling system that will be used to transport copper ore from Kakula’s underground workings to the surface processing plant is progressing very well.

The concrete foundations for the head end of the conveyor belt have been completed and work on the portal electrical substation is nearing completion. The expected date for the first ore to surface using the decline conveyor system is March 2020.

Construction of the permanent underground dewatering system is well advanced with the initial water storage dam and pumping station complete. The excavation for the main decline’s bottom water storage dam has been completed and work is underway on the second pumping system.

More than 5,000 metres of underground development has been completed to date, which is consistent with the schedule laid out in the February 2019 Kakula pre-feasibility study.

Basic engineering design and costing for the underground mine at Kakula recently has been completed. Detailed design is ongoing and the bulk of the procurement packages are scheduled to be placed by the end of 2019.

Engineering design, procurement and construction for the processing plant is fully underway. Orders for all the long-lead items have been placed, including the ball mills, crushers, high-pressure grinding rolls, flotation cells, re-grind mills, thickeners and concentrate filter.

Surface earthworks and terracing for the concentrator and surface infrastructure is well advanced, and the civil contract for the processing plant now has been signed. The tender for the structural, mechanical, piping and plate-work erection contract has been issued.

The Kakula permanent village construction also is progressing to plan with some accommodation units ready for occupation.

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