Ivanhoe Minerals has reported that the phase II concentrator of its Kamoa-Kakula project in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to be 93% complete by January 31, with the plant set to start hot commissioning operations in April. The concentrator is designed to have an annual capacity of 3.8 million tons.
The plan is also several months ahead of schedule, the report notes.
Thermal commissioning is to introduce the ore into the concentrator at a low feed rate first to set equipment parameters and test performance, and then the feed rate is steadily increased.
The first copper concentrate from the phase II concentrator is expected to be produced about a week after the ore enters the ball mill. The phase II concentrator is identical to the phase I concentrator of 3.8 million tons per year, so faster capacity growth is expected as operational experience is gained during the phase I trial operation.
The first phase concentrator reached its monthly design capacity in September 2021, its fourth full month of operation, the report said. The first ore entered the Phase I concentrator of the Kamoa copper mine on 20 May 2021 and the first concentrate was produced from the phase I concentrator on 25 May.
Throughput of the phase I concentrator is currently 15% above design capacity, reaching 117% in December.
Copper recovery also exceeded the design rate of 86 per cent, depending on the grade of raw material, and was about 2 per cent higher in December.
Report said that in the future, in the first phase of the concentrator and the second phase of concentrator after put into use, has appointed a special project team to solve the problem of the two stages of the bottleneck, and targeted for improvement, is designed to mill plant throughput increased from 7.6 million tons a year of design to 9 million tonnes a year - once reached steady state, The two concentrators can produce 450,000 tons of copper concentrate per year.
Production guidance for Kamoa-Kakula this year is between 290,000 and 340,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate.
Ivanhoe's report also said the phase iii expansion of Kamoa-Kakula, which is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2024, is also proceeding, with the latest feasibility study, including the phase III expansion, expected in the third quarter of this year.
Kamoa's CHIEF executive Officer Mark Farren has announced his retirement following the start of the second phase of the expansion. Ivanhoe has begun to identify his successor.
Farren first joined Ivanhoe in June 2014 as Executive Vice President of Operations and was appointed CHIEF Executive Officer of the Kamoa Copper Mine in October 2019 -- in this role he oversaw the construction, commissioning and operation of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Mine phase I mine and concentrator, as well as phase 2 and 3 expansions of the project.
