The Camoa-Kakula mine has announced a production guidance target of 290,000 to 340,000 tons of copper metal for 2022. At the same time, the second phase of the plant is expected to start production in the second quarter of this year, which is expected to double the annual output of copper to more than 400,000 tons, making Kamoa one of the world's top 10 copper mines.
It is reported that the first phase of the project's selection plant will be put into operation at the end of May 2021, and commercial production will be officially realized on July 1. The production guidance target of the project was initially expected to be 80,000 ~ 95,000 tons, but was increased to 92,500 ~ 100,000 tons as the phase I concentrator successfully achieved the ramp up of production. At 31 December 2021, the Camoa mine produced 105,884 tonnes of copper in concentrate, exceeding the upper limit of the revised production guidance target.
At the same time, the construction of phase II of the 3.8 million tons/year concentrator continues to advance ahead of schedule. By the end of December 2021, about 80% of the project has been completed, and some pre-test runs have been carried out. The second phase of the plant is expected to carry out test run with material and put into operation in the second quarter of 2022.
In addition, the Kamoa copper mine is proceeding with phase III expansion. The phase iii plant will be built at kasoko mine and will have a design capacity higher than the phase I and II plants of 3.8 mmtpa. It is expected that the first stage of the third phase of the plant will be operational by the end of 2024. At the same time, the phase III expansion plan is to build direct crude copper smelters in accordance with IFC emission standards in the vicinity of phase I and PHASE II concentrators. The smelter is expected to be one of the largest single-series direct copper flash smelters in the world and the largest copper smelter in Africa. Smelter design is currently underway and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022.
In addition, the Camoa copper mine will also play a role in exploration to increase reserves. The Kamoa and Kakura mines are only early discoveries, and the large concentration area will extend the central African copper belt as far southwest as the Zambian border. In 2022, the company will begin extensive drilling activities within its Western Frontier exploration rights, fully unlocking the vast exploration potential of the land.
Industry insiders expect Camoa-Kakula to be the highest grade major copper mine in the world, with an initial annual ore processing capacity of 3.8 million tons and an expected average selected copper grade of over 6% in the first five years of production and over 5.9% in the first 10 years of production. Once the project expands capacity to process 19 million tonnes of ore per year, Kamoa-Kakula will become the second largest copper mine in the world, with a peak annual output of more than 800,000 tonnes of copper, according to independent research rankings.
Zijin is the largest shareholder of the Kamoa-Kakula mine, with a combined interest of about 45 per cent. The Kamoa-Kakula copper project is a joint venture between Zijin Mining (39.6%), Ivanhoe Mining (39.6%), Jinghe Global (0.8%) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (20%). Zijin is ivanhoe's second largest shareholder with a 13.69 per cent stake.
