Ivanhoe Mines to produce 340,000 tonnes of copper at DRC mine in 2022

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; US-OTC: IVPAF) said on January 10 that it expects to produce between 290,000 to 340,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate in 2022 at its Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Canadian miner, which began production at the asset last year, said output for the year ended December 31 yielded 105,884 tonnes of copper concentrate, which exceeded the upper end of the increased guidance range of 92,500 to 100,000 tonnes. The year-end total was boosted by record monthly production of 18,853 tonnes achieved in December, Ivanhoe said.

Guidance range for cash costs per lb. of payable copper in 2022 has been set at between US$1.20 and US$1.40 per pound. The range sits below US$1.37 per lb. Ivanhoe achieved in the final quarter of 2021.

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Ivanhoe said it is now focused on completing the mine’s Phase 2 concentrator plant expansion, which is expected to start production in the second quarter of 2022, at least three months ahead of schedule.

The company said the project will double the mine’s nameplate milling throughput to 7.6 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). Phases 1 and 2 combined are forecast to produce approximately 400,000 tonnes of copper per year.

The Phase 3 expansion is also advancing, Ivanhoe said, with work ongoing on a new box cut to open up the Kamoa mine. An updated prefeasibility study, including the Phase 3 expansion, is expected in the third quarter of the year.

Second-largest copper mine 

Ivanhoe inked a deal in June with Zijin Mining’s DRC subsidiary and trader Citic Metal to sell each 50% of the copper production from the copper mine. 

Mining billionaire Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe’s founder and co-executive chairman, has said the project will become the world’s second-largest copper mine and the one with the highest grades among major operations. 

He also believes the DRC has the potential to become the world’s top copper producer, overtaking Chile.

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The company has also vowed to produce the industry’s “greenest” copper, as it works to become the first net-zero operational carbon emitter among the world’s top-tier copper producers. Friedland has not yet set a target date for achieving that goal. 

In addition, Ivanhoe Mines is advancing development of the Platreef palladium-rhodium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold discovery in South Africa, scheduled to begin production in 2024. A feasibility study for the project should be completed in early 2022, the miner said.

In the DRC, the company is upgrading the historic Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium mine for a resumption of production.

Ivanhoe shares have doubled in value over the past year and were trading almost 4% higher on January 10 in Toronto at $11.09 a piece. The company has a market capitalization of $13.17 billion (US$10.4 billion).