Ivanhoe Mines at its mega-project of Kamoa-Kakula Complex has produced a record volume of 103,947 tonnes of Copper in concentrate form during the third quarter of 2023.
Ivanhoe made the announcement on Tuesday through a press statement jointly issued by company President Robert Friedland and co-executive chairman Marna Cloete.
According to the communique, the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex’s phase 1 and 2 concentrators had on average produced 9.2 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) after the decongestion program during the first quarter, a flow that had been regularly exceeded during the second and third quarters.
Kamoa-Kakula Complex’s phases 1 and 2 concentrators produced 35,267 tonnes of copper in concentrate form during the month of August alone, and 33,044 tonnes of copper last month.
Furthermore, the concentrators of both phases at the mining complex had crushed approximately 2.24 million tonnes of ore during the third quarter with an average content of 5.55% copper.
“These millions of tonnes of high grade ore coming from the Kakula mine, supplemented with ore from surface stockpiles to achieve a higher throughput than the initial planned capacity. Additionally, strong copper recoveries continued during the quarter, averaging 87.2%,” the statement reads.
In the same statement, Ivanhoe revealed that the Kamoa-Kakula recorded an annual production of 301,336 tonnes of copper in concentrate form, which takes into account the acceleration of decongestion initiatives since last February while at the same time, forecasts for this annual production from the complex remain between 390,000 and 430,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate.
Ivanhoe, a Canadian mining company, produced 333,500 tonnes of copper last year, to eclipse its forecasted range.
