Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project Sets Monthly Record For Underground Development

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Ivanhoe Mines reported that underground development at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project totaled 2,069 meters in September, setting a new monthly record for the project and bringing the total underground development to more than 22.6 kilometers - approximately 7.0 kilometers, or 44% ahead of schedule. The project's monthly total of 2,069 meters of underground development is comprised of 1,696 meters at the Kakula Mine and 373 meters at the Kansoko Mine, which is located at the Kamoa Deposit - approximately 10 kilometers north of the Kakula Mine.

Several underground development headings at the Kakula Mine now have transitioned into the higher-grade ore zones near the centre of the deposit, grading between approximately +5% copper and +8% copper. October will be the first month of mining in Kakula's high-grade ore from the southern access drives, and this ore will be stored on a separate high-grade surface stockpile near the southern decline. Mining on the northern side of the orebody also will soon intersect the higher grade ore.

The main access drives between northern and southern declines have less than 520 meters remaining before they connect in the high-grade centre of the deposit. The connection is expected to occur next month and will significantly increase ventilation to the centre of the orebody, allowing for additional mining crews to begin work in Kakula's high-grade ore zones.

In addition to driving the main connecting access drives, underground mining crews at Kakula are focused on preparation work for developing the high grade, drift-and-fill stoping blocks in the centre of the orebody, where the average grade is up to plus 8% copper. Opening up of the mining footprint for these high-grade stoping areas entails development work in areas of low-, medium- and high-grade ore, and is designed to coincide with the start-up of the processing plant next year. This will allow mining crews to deliver high-grade stoping ore directly from the underground to the processing plant.

Drift-and-fill stoping is a highly-efficient form of underground mechanized mining and will allow the operation to efficiently recover significantly more tonnes from the orebody. Once drift-and-fill stoping operations begin, mining at the Kakula Mine will produce a significantly higher proportion of high-grade stoping ore than lower-grade development ore.

Underground development at the Kansoko Mine currently is in low-to-medium-grade ore zones, grading between approximately +2% and +3% copper. Kansoko is being developed by training crews and will be a supplemental source of ore when the Kakula concentrator processing capacity doubles to 7.6 Mtpa - currently planned to be commissioned in Q2 2022.

In September, mining crews at the Kakula and Kansoko mines produced and transported to surface approximately 132,000 tonnes of ore, bringing the project's total pre-production ore stockpiles to an estimated 803,000 tonnes. September's ore production is approximately 24% higher than August.

The ore being mined from the northern portion of the Kakula Mine is transported to surface via the conveyor system and placed on a blended surface stockpile that now contains 540,000 tonnes grading an estimated 3.73% copper; comprised of 125,000 tonnes of high-grade ore grading 6.00% copper, and 415,000 tonnes of medium-grade ore grading 3.05% copper.

Two additional, pre-production ore stockpiles are located at the Kakula South decline (approximately 168,000 tonnes grading 2.73% copper) and the Kansoko decline (approximately 95,000 tonnes grading 2.34% copper).

Initial production at the Kakula Mine processing plant is scheduled for Q3 2021. Kakula is projected to be the world's highest-grade major copper mine, with an initial mining rate of 3.8 Mtpa at an estimated average feed grade of more than 6.0% copper over the first five years of operation. Kakula is the first of multiple, planned, high-grade mining areas on the 400-square-kilometer Kamoa-Kakula mining license.