Record Monthly Copper Production Of 29,800 Tonnes

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Ivanhoe Mines reported that the Kamoa-Kakula Mining Complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo has set a new monthly production record of 29,800 tonnes of copper in concentrate produced.

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 Metso Outotec, which allows Kamoa Copper to leverage the enhanced ore throughput rates at the front-end of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 plants.

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 in April. First ore was introduced into the Phase 2 milling circuit in March, 2022, and first copper concentrate was produced approximately four months ahead of the originally announced development schedule. The Phase 2 plant now is consistently operating at comparable throughputs and recoveries to the Phase 1 plant.

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.