Workers gather around the concentrator’s ball mill to celebrate the restart of the Kipushi mine, 31 years after being
placed on care and maintenance. (Photo: Ivanhoe Mines)

Off-take agreements for Kipushi’s high-grade zinc concentrate have been signed with CITIC Metal (HK) Ltd. of Hong Kong and Trafigura Asia Trading of Singapore. Further offtake agreements are expected to be signed in the coming months. In addition, financing facilities totaling $170 million provided by CITIC Metal, Trafigura and First Bank DRC of Kinshasa have been arranged, with $50 million drawn to date.

Kipushi Corp. SA (KICO) is 68% owned by Kipushi Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines, with the remaining 32% owned by Gécamines. As per the terms of the joint-venture agreement between Kipushi Holding, KICO, and Gécamines, Gécamines will acquire an increasing percentage of the share capital and voting rights in KICO over time, subject to completing conditions precedent.

“The rebirth of the mine is a major and state-of-the-art achievement for our operations team, the people of the DRC and the local community in Kipushi,” said Robert Friedland, founder and executive co-chairman, Ivanhoe Mines. “We commend and congratulate everyone involved, especially the hardworking Congolese workforce, for their exceptional contributions towards this example of industry-leading execution ... with the construction and first concentrate milestones delivered substantially ahead of schedule. Kipushi will be one of the world’s leading producers of high-grade, low-emissions zinc and associated metals. The mine will follow Kamoa-Kakula’s example of being a leading employer and social driver for the region where we operate while maintaining Ivanhoe’s focus on strong community relations and sustainability.”

Over the first five years annualized production, Kipushi is expected to average 278,000 metric tons (mt) of zinc in concentrate, positioning Kipushi as the world’s 4th-largest zinc mine and the largest on the African continent. Dry commissioning of the new 800,000-mt/y Kipushi concentrator commenced in early May, with first ore from the surface run-of-mine (ROM) stockpiles fed through the ball mill during the evening of May 31, 2024. The first batch of concentrate production was achieved on June 14, 2024. Ramp-up to steady-state production is expected in Q3 2024.

Basic engineering is underway to increase processing capacity of Kipushi concentrator by 20% to 960,000 mt/y. As of June 30, 2024, a total of approximately 336,000 mt of ore at an average grade of 23.4% zinc was stored in surface ROM stockpiles adjacent to the Kipushi concentrator. This includes approximately 150,000 mt of “high-grade” ore at an average grade of over 30% zinc. The stockpiled ore, which contains nearly 80,000 mt of zinc that is currently trading at approximately $3,000/mt, is now being used for the ongoing hot commissioning and ramp-up of the Kipushi concentrator.