20:00:16 EDT Tue 30 Apr 2024
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Ivanhoe Mines Ltd
Symbol IVN
Shares Issued 1,268,518,810
Close 2024-01-08 C$ 13.41
Market Cap C$ 17,010,837,242
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Ivanhoe Mines produces 393,551 tonnes Cu in 2023

2024-01-08 11:23 ET - News Release

Mr. Robert Friedland reports

IVANHOE MINES PROVIDES 2023 PRODUCTION RESULTS AND 2024 PRODUCTION GUIDANCE FOR THE KAMOA-KAKULA COPPER COMPLEX

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., ahead of the 2024 Future Minerals Forum at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, produced 393,551 tonnes of copper in concentrate in 2023, inside the 2023 production guidance range of 390,000 tonnes to 430,000 tonnes, from the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Kamoa-Kakula's 2023 production achievement represents a year-over-year increase of 18 per cent.

The 2024 annual production guidance for Kamoa-Kakula is estimated at between 440,000 tonnes and 490,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate, following the anticipated completion of the phase 3 concentrator during the third quarter of 2024.

Watch the video showcasing Kamoa-Kakula's 2023 operational highlights on-line.

Two thousand twenty-four production guidance for the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex

Kamoa-Kakula's 2024 production guidance is based on several assumptions and estimates as of Dec. 31, 2023, including, among other things, assumptions about the timing for the completion and ramp-up of the new five-million-tonne-per-annum phase 3 concentrator. Guidance involves estimates of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially.

Ivanhoe Mines will provide 2024 guidance ranges for C1 cash costs per pound of payable copper and capital expenditure in its year-end financial results, which will be released on Feb. 26, 2024. Ivanhoe will provide further guidance on Kipushi and Platreef, which are expected to be commissioned in Q2 2024 and Q3 2024, respectively.

Kamoa-Kakula produced 393,551 tonnes of copper in 2023, an increase of 18 per cent compared with 2022

Kamoa-Kakula produced 393,551 tonnes of copper in 2023, achieving its production guidance of 390,000 tonnes to 430,000 tonnes. Guidance was achieved following the successful ramp-up of Kamoa Copper's debottlenecking program, which was completed ahead of schedule on Feb. 27, 2023.

During 2023, Kamoa-Kakula's phase 1 and 2 concentrators milled approximately 8.5 million tonnes of ore at an average feed grade of 5.2 per cent copper, producing 824,382 dry metric tonnes of copper concentrate. Copper flotation recoveries for the year averaged 87.4 per cent, above the phase 1 and 2 concentrator design recovery rate of 86 per cent.

During the fourth quarter, a total of 2.1 million ore tonnes were milled at an average feed grade of 4.9 per cent copper, producing 92,215 tonnes of copper in concentrate. Quarterly production was impacted by intermittent grid instability, particularly in November, where plant utilization was significantly hampered by unplanned outages.

As with previous quarters, ore is drawn as required from surface stockpiles to maximize copper production. Kamoa-Kakula's high- and medium-grade ore surface stockpiles totalled approximately 4.13 million tonnes at an estimated, blended average grade of 3.5 per cent copper. Contained copper in the stockpiles at the end of December totalled more than 143,000 tonnes.

After year-end, a daily milling record was achieved on Jan. 1, 2024: 31,084 tonnes of ore were processed by the phase 1 and 2 concentrators over 24 hours, which is equivalent to an annual milling rate of 10.4 million tonnes (after accounting for availability).

Kamoa Copper has been working extensively with DRC's state-owned power company, La Societe Nationale d'Electricite (SNEL), to identify the causes of the instability across the southern DRC's grid infrastructure and to identify long-lasting solutions.

In December, 2023, SNEL and Ivanhoe Mines Energy DRC, a subsidiary of Kamoa Holding Ltd., signed an amendment to the existing financing agreement to finance the identified infrastructure upgrades. The original financing agreement consisted of a loan of up to $250-million to finance the refurbishment of 78 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity at the Mwadingusha dam and 178 MW of generation capacity from Turbine No. 5 at the Inga II dam. The refurbishment of the Mwadingusha facility was completed in September, 2021, and the refurbishment of Turbine No. 5 at Inga II is on schedule to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The amendment to the financing agreement expands the loan up to a total of $450-million. The financing will be assigned specifically to grid infrastructure upgrades, such as an increase in grid capacity between Inga and Kolwezi, a new harmonic filter at the Inga converter station, as well as a new static compensator at the Kolwezi converter station. As with the existing financing agreement, the $200-million in additional financing by Ivanhoe Mines Energy to SNEL bears interest at the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) plus 3 per cent and will be repaid via a 40-per-cent discount on the tariff of grid energy consumed by Kamoa-Kakula. Mobilization of resources is under way, with project delivery expected to take place over the next 18 months.

In addition, Kamoa Copper's engineering team is currently expanding the on-site backup generation capacity to ensure there is full on-site redundancy for the current phase 1 and 2 operations, as well as future phase 3 operations. On-site backup power generation capacity is set to increase, via a phased rollout, from the current 48 MW to a total of over 200 MW, in time for the completion of the phase 3 smelter in Q4 2024. An additional 30 MW of installed generation capacity is expected to be fully commissioned early in Q2 2024, with a further 50 MW commissioned by the end of the quarter. This will bring backup generation capacity to 128 MW, which is enough for the combined phase 1, 2 and 3 concentrators to operate. The generator farm sites are being built adjacent to the phase 1 and 2 concentrators, and smelter at Kakula, as well as adjacent to the phase 3 concentrator at Kamoa.

Negotiations to source up to an additional 30 MW of power from the Zambian grid interconnector are complete, with the delivery of power expected to commence imminently. In the longer term, power supplied via the Zambian interconnector is expected to increase up to 100 MW.

Ivanhoe Mines to issue 2023 financial results and host conference call for investors on Feb. 26

Ivanhoe Mines will report its Q4 and full-year 2023 financial results, and a detailed update on its operations, before the market opens on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024.

The company plans to hold an investor conference call to discuss the full-year 2023 financial results on the same day. Details of the call will be shared closer to the date.

An audio webcast recording of the conference call, together with supporting presentation slides, will be available on Ivanhoe Mines' website.

After issuance, the financial statements, and management's discussion and analysis, will be available at the company's website and on SEDAR+.

Qualified persons

Disclosures of a scientific or technical nature at the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Steve Amos, who is considered, by virtue of his education, experience and professional association, a qualified person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Amos is not considered independent under NI 43-101 as he is Ivanhoe Mines' executive vice-president of projects. Mr. Amos has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release.

Other disclosures of a scientific or technical nature regarding the stockpiles in this news release have been reviewed and approved by George Gilchrist, who is considered, by virtue of his education, experience and professional association, a qualified person under the terms of NI 43-101. Mr. Gilchrist is not considered independent under NI 43-101 as he is the vice-president of resources for Ivanhoe Mines. Mr. Gilchrist has verified the other technical data regarding the surface stockpiles disclosed in this news release.

Ivanhoe has prepared an independent, NI 43-101-compliant technical report for the Kamoa-Kakula project, which is available on the company's website and under the company's SEDAR+ profile:

  • Kamoa-Kakula integrated development plan 2023 technical report, dated March 6, 2023, prepared by: OreWin Pty. Ltd.; China Nerin Engineering Co. Ltd.; DRA Global; Epoch Resources; Golder Associates Africa; Metso Outotec Oyj; Paterson and Cooke; SRK Consulting Ltd.; and The MSA Group.

The technical report includes relevant information regarding the assumptions, parameters and methods of the mineral resource estimates on the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex cited in this news release, as well as information regarding data verification, exploration procedures and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release.

About Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the expansion of the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the DRC; the construction of the Tier 1 Platreef palladium-nickel-platinum-rhodium-copper-gold project in South Africa; and the restart of the historic ultrahigh-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC.

Ivanhoe Mines also is exploring for new copper discoveries across its approximately 2,400 square kilometres of 80-per-cent-to-100-per-cent-owned exploration licences, as well as on the 247 square km of newly acquired joint venture licences, in the Western Foreland located adjacent to the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the DRC.

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