Ivanhoe has announced the first phase of commercial production of the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, effective 1 July.

Ivanhoe said on Tuesday that the concentrator, with an annual capacity of 3.8 million tonnes, was considered to have reached commercial production after reaching more than 80 per cent of its designed capacity, with a recovery rate of nearly 70 per cent for seven consecutive days.

Ivanhoe reported that about 500000 tonnes of ore had been ground so far, including about 263000 tonnes of 5.7 per cent copper in July.

Copper production has increased steadily since the hot production at the end of May, and has exceeded 500 tons / day by the end of July, which is close to the steady-state design capacity of the first phase of about 550 tons / day, that is, 200,000 tons / year.

The copper recovery rate rose from an average of about 70 per cent in June to about 81 per cent in July, Mr Ivanhoe said. In the last 10 days of July, the average copper recovery of the concentrator was close to 82%. It is reported that the operation gradually increased to stage 1 steady-state design parameters, including about 86% recovery.

Kamoa-Kaula mined 414000 tonnes of 5.16 per cent copper in July, of which 367000 tonnes of 5.29 per cent came from Kakula,85000 tonnes, 7.70 per cent from the mine's high-grade center, and 47000 tonnes of 4.1 per cent from the Kansoko mine.

The company has directed production of 80000 to 95000 tonnes of copper concentrate in 2021.

The Kamoa-Kakula copper project is jointly owned by Ivanhoe Mining (39.6 per cent), Zijin Mining Group (39.6 per cent), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8 per cent) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (20 per cent).

Kakoula Copper Mine is one of the highest grade major new copper mines in the world and the most important new copper mine to be put into production since the Escondida mine in Chile in November 1990.

The project is about to be expanded to 19 million tons per year in stages, which will consolidate its position as the second largest copper mine complex in the world, with annual copper production peaking at more than 800000 tons.