Kolwezi -
Kamoa Copper's record monthly production was achieved despite planned interruptions during the month. These planned interruptions involved scheduled maintenance for two days on the Phase 1 plant, including relining of the primary ball mill and the successful commissioning of the third Larox filter press from
Kamoa-Kakula milled 660,000 tonnes of ore during the month at an average feed grade of 5.5% copper, currently positioning the Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrator plants at a combined annualized processing rate of approximately 8 million tonnes. Average feed grades are expected to trend toward long-term projections as Phase 2 establishes steady-state design capacity. Over the last seven months, the Phase 1, 3.8-million-tonne-per-annum concentrator plant has consistently exceeded design ore throughput by approximately 10% to 15%.
The Kamoa-Kakula Phase 2, 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum concentrator plant successfully declared commercial production on
Kamoa Copper management anticipates that the accelerated ramp-up of the Phase 2 concentrator plant will enable Kamoa-Kakula to deliver in the upper end of its 2022 copper production guidance of 290,000 to 340,000 tonnes.
The existing Phase 1 and 2 concentrators also will be de-bottlenecked and are expected to be operating at a combined throughput of 9.2 million tonnes of ore per year by the second quarter of 2023, which will increase Kamoa-Kakula's annual copper production to more than 450,000 tonnes. This production rate will rank Kamoa Copper as the world's fourth-largest copper producer.
Kamoa-Kakula's Phase 1 and Phase 2 plants milled a record 660,000 tonnes of ore in May for an annualized run rate of approximately 8 million tonnes per year.
'Kamoa-Kakula continues to be an industry-leading example of responsible, world-scale development delivered on budget, and ahead of schedule, a unique accomplishment for major mining projects,'
'Together with our joint-venture partner,
About
Kamoa-Kakula is the world's fastest growing major copper mine. Kamoa-Kakula began producing copper concentrates in
About the
Kamoa-Kakula is the world's fastest growing and highest-grade major copper mining complex. Based on independent benchmarking, the project's phased expansion scenario to 19 million tonnes per annum would position Kamoa-Kakula as the world's second-largest copper mining complex, with peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes. Copper production from the Kamoa Copper's first two phases is projected to exceed 450,000 tonnes per year by Q2 2023, positioning Kamoa Copper as the world's fourth largest copper producer.
A 2020 independent audit of Kamoa-Kakula's greenhouse gas intensity metrics performed by
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Forward-looking statements
Certain statements in this release constitute 'forward-looking statements' or 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as 'may', 'would', 'could', 'will', 'intend', 'expect', 'believe', 'plan', 'anticipate', 'estimate', 'scheduled', 'forecast', 'predict' and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results 'may', 'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will' be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release.
Such statements include without limitation: (i) statements that an updated pre-feasibility study for Phase 3 is scheduled for H2 2022; (ii) statements regarding Kamoa-Kakula becoming the world's third-largest copper mining complex by Q4 2024, with copper production of approximately 600,000 tonnes per year; (iii) statements regarding first copper production from Phase 3 expected in Q4 2024; (iv) statements regarding the Phase 1 and 2 de-bottlenecking program increasing combined throughput to 9.2 million tonnes of copper concentrate per year by Q2 2023 and increasing annual copper production to more than 450,000 tonnes; (v) statements regarding the Kamoa-Kakula'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; (vi) statements regarding Kamoa-Kakula will be among the world's lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced; (vii) statements on achieving net-zero operational greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2) at the
As well, all of the results of the Kakula definitive feasibility study, the Kakula-Kansoko pre-feasibility study and the Kamoa-Kakula preliminary economic assessment, constitute forward-looking statements or information, and include future estimates of internal rates of return, net present value, future production, estimates of cash cost, proposed mining plans and methods, mine life estimates, cash flow forecasts, metal recoveries, estimates of capital and operating costs and the size and timing of phased development of the projects. Furthermore, with respect to this specific forward-looking information concerning the development of the
Forward-looking statements and information involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or information, including, but not limited to, the factors discussed below and under 'Risk Factors', and elsewhere in this release, as well as unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices and the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations.
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