Kamoa Copper draws down US$300 million advance payment facility available under the offtake agreements
Trucks loaded with bags of copper concentrate at the Kamoa-Kakula mine site awaiting customs clearance. (Credit: Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.)
Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX:IVPAF) Co-Chairs Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun are pleased to announce that Kamoa Copper SA – the operating company of the joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group, Crystal River and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – has begun exporting its copper concentrate internationally. The first truckloads of copper concentrate destined for smelters outside of the DRC departed from the mine site on Saturday, July 17th, marking a significant milestone in the ongoing ramp-up of Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1, 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) concentrator plant.
Kamoa-Kakula’s copper concentrate for export is being transported in bags, with each bag containing approximately two tonnes of concentrate. The bags are independently weighed, sampled and sealed in the presence of representatives from the DRC’s Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DGDA), then loaded onto transport trucks. Once loaded, the trucks are weighed, sealed and parked in a dedicated holding area at Kamoa-Kakula awaiting inspection and export clearance from the DGDA. The customs approval process typically takes approximately five days. Once export clearance is received, the trucks may exit the DRC and proceed on their journey to the port of Durban, South Africa.
Kamoa Copper began producing copper concentrate on May 25, 2021, and made its first delivery of bulk concentrates to the nearby Lualaba Copper Smelter, outside of Kolwezi, on June 1, 2021. Since then, deliveries of bulk concentrate from Kamoa-Kakula to the Lualaba Copper Smelter have been occurring on a daily basis. The first truckloads of Kamoa-Kakula’s blister copper ingots, containing approximately 99% copper, are scheduled to be exported from the Lualaba Copper Smelter to international markets this week.
Kamoa Copper received all necessary authorizations from the DRC government to export copper concentrate and blister copper on June 8, 2021. The mine is on track to produce between 80,000 and 95,000 tonnes of contained copper in concentrate in 2021.
In June 2021, Kamoa Copper elected to draw the US$300 million advance payment facility available under the offtake agreements. The Kamoa Holding joint venture had cash and cash equivalents on hand of approximately US$288 million as at June 30, 2021. Going forward, all Phase 1 operating costs and the majority of Phase 2 capital expenditures are expected to be funded from copper sales and facilities in place at Kamoa. Ivanhoe’s proportionate funding of Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 2 construction capital costs for the remainder of 2021 is expected to be only US$85 million.
Marna Cloete, Ivanhoe Mines’ President and CFO, commented: “As Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 concentrator plant ramps up toward steady-state production, the mine now is producing more concentrate than the nearby Lualaba Copper Smelter can process. As such, Kamoa-Kakula has begun exporting its ultra-high-grade copper concentrates to international smelters, converting the rich copper resources hidden beneath the Kalahari sands into long-lasting and meaningful benefits for all Congolese people.”
Kakula is projected to be the world’s highest-grade major copper mine, with an initial mining rate of 3.8 Mtpa, ramping up to 7.6 Mtpa in Q3 2022. Phase 1 is expected to produce approximately 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, and phases 1 and 2 combined are forecast to produce approximately 400,000 tonnes of copper per year. 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.
A 2020 independent audit of Kamoa-Kakula’s greenhouse gas intensity metrics performed by Hatch Ltd. of Mississauga, Canada, confirmed that the project will be among the world’s lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced.
The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project 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%).
Members of Kamoa Copper’s operations team celebrate the loading of the first transport truck with bags of ultra-high-grade copper concentrates.
Source: Company Press Release