AMN - DRC: Start of decline development at Kakula

The mine development team at Ivanhoe Mines’s Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project has celebrated the first blast marking the start of work on the twin declines. The declines are being developed at the ultra-high-grade Kakula discovery of the Tier One project, near the mining centre of Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Kakula box cut was completed on October 26 and the first blast for the twin declines took place on November 16, 10 days ahead of schedule.

The decline development work is being undertaken by JMMC, a DRC subsidiary of JCHX Mining Management of Beijing, China.

Depending on ground conditions, the 3600-metre decline development contract is scheduled for completion in approximately one year.

In response to the exploration success at the Kakula discovery, partners Ivanhoe and Zijin Mining are fast-tracking the mine development program.

Initial mine development is planned to begin in the flat, near-surface zone which, at a 3% cut-off, is between 7.1 metres and 11.7 metres thick and with copper grades between 8.11% and 10.35% along the deposit’s axis.

Fourteen rigs are continuing to drill at Kamoa-Kakula, including 10 rigs focused on expanding and upgrading the resources in the Kakula high-grade zone along trend to the west and southeast.

A fresh resource estimate for Kakula is being prepared and is expected to result in a major upgrade and expansion of the resources.

The new Kamoa-Kakula project preliminary economic assessment (PEA) is progressing well and is expected to be completed this quarter. It is based on an initial mine capacity of 6 million tonnes per annum at Kakula, using the May 2017 mineral resource estimate, with an additional 6-Mtpa mine at Kansoko, serving a centralised concentrator at Kakula, for a projected mine production of approximately 12 Mtpa from the presently delineated Kamoa and Kakula deposits.

In addition to the new PEA study, preliminary work is underway on a 6-Mtpa pre-feasibility study at Kakula that will be based on the upcoming, January 2018 resource model.

The study will be considered as the base case for the first phase of development at Kamoa-Kakula. In light of the successful step-out drilling at Kakula West, the Kamoa-Kakula development plans will be reassessed and amended as the project moves forward.

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