NR
October 19, 2020
Underground development at the Kakula Copper Mine enters zone of ultra-high-grade ore
Kakula’s northern and southern access drives to connect next month, allowing highly-productive stoping operations to begin in centre of orebody in +8% copper
Excellent construction progress being made on Kakula’s concentrator plant; first production now expected in July 2021
KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun, Co-Chairmen of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF), announced today thatexcellent progress is being made advancing underground mine development at the Kakula Mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with current mining grades of up to 11% copper in one of the access drives being advanced from the northern decline.
Kakula’s northern and southern dual access drives are expected to be connected (the mining term is “holing”) next month, allowing highly-productive mining (stoping) operations to begin in high-grade zones. Approximately 260 metres of tunneling remains until the access drives are connected (see figures 1 and 2).
“Development of the dual access drives from Kakula’s northern decline has entered a zone of chalcocite-rich ore grading up to 11% copper over a height of 6.6 metres,” said Mr. Friedland. “These copper grades are extraordinary in a global context, but are not unexpected. They are real-time confirmation of the exceptional quality of the Kakula resource, which sits at the apex of any ranking worldwide.”
In addition, access drift 1 from Kakula’s southern decline has moved from the medium-grade ore zone (+5 copper) into the high-grade ore zone, and currently is traversing the +8% copper zone as it approaches the “holing” position in the centre of the deposit. Access drift 2 from Kakula’s southern decline currently is traversing the +5% copper zone and is expected to quickly enter the +8% copper zone (see figures 1 and 2).
“We are looking forward to achieving our first “holing” between the northern and southern declines,” said Mr. Friedland. “It will open up important high-grade copper reserves, and enable ventilation to flow through dedicated underground airways, which have been developed between Kakula’s northern and southern declines. This marriage between Kakula’s northern and southern declines will facilitate the ramp up in production and dramatically increase the efficiency of our underground logistics, and further improve safety.”
Figure 1: Underground development completed to October 18, 2020 (in black) and scheduled development (green, brown, purple) to November 30, 2020. Also shown are the +3%, +5% and +8% copper contours and the location where the northern and southern access drives are scheduled to join in November (red circle).
Figure 2: Kakula’s underground development completed to October 18, 2020 (in red). The black star shows where the northern and southern access drives are scheduled to join in November.
A Niton (portable XRF) reading on the tip of a chalcocite-rich piece of ore grading 67.8% copper from Kakula’s northern access drive