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Kamoa-Kakula Copper
Digging Deep: Why the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project is Different
The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project has seen remarkable growth since it first extracted copper in May last year.
The Project extracted almost 20 tonnes worth of the metal between December and January. In February, it was announced that production capacity would be expanded – allowing the plant to bring more than 9 million tonnes of copper ore out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) mineral-rich earth.
However, while the Project’s impressive growth over the last 12 months is notable, its story starts many years in the past.
The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project is vast, covering almost 400 square kilometres in the Congolese Copperbelt just north of the DRC’s southern border with Zambia. Canadian mining company Ivanhoe mines started prospecting in the area way back in 1998 but had to wait ten agonising years to find the stratiform copper mineralisation it was looking for.
To find out why the Project had to wait so long to strike copper, despite its prime position in the Congolese Copperbelt, we have to go back even further.
Copper deposits were first formed in the area some 500 million years ago, during the Cambrian period when Earth was a very different place. Most of the continents, for example, were found in the southern hemisphere and an evolutionary explosion produced an incredible amount of animal biodiversity that, despite still existing underwater, would serve as the forbears to most of the living creatures today – including humans.
Kamoa-Kakula Copper
Fast forward to the start of the twentieth century and prospectors first start to find copper deposits in the rich and thick jungle undergrowth of what would become the DRC. The site that Kamoa-Kakula now sites on, however, would escape their attention due to thin layer of sand from the Kalahari Desert covering the deposits that formed around ten million years ago.
In the intervening century, modern exploration techniques would develop and allow Ivanhoe Mines to find the copper deposits before, in August 2012, the company was granted mining licenses for the Kamoa Project that would be valid for 30 years. In December 2012, an independent mineral resource estimate ranked Kamoa as the continent’s largest high-grade copper discovery and the largest undeveloped high-grade discover on the planet. Construction began on the mines in less than two years later.
Since then, the development of the mines has moved apace. A second site, Kakula, was discovered in 2016. Last year, the first commercial production began, and, by August, the mine was producing almost 15,000 tonnes of copper per month. In September, that number exceeded 16,000 tonnes.
“The team at Kamoa has worked tirelessly to bring the Phase 1 concentrator to steady-state performance,” said Mark Farren, Kamoa Copper’s CEO at the time. “We are very pleased with September’s results, which exceeded steady-state design parameters for ore throughput and were close to achieving steadystate design copper recovery and monthly copper production.”
This is all great news for Kamoa Copper and the other shareholders. The company is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Chinese multinational mining company Zijin Mining Group – who both hold 39.6% of Kamoa Copper – and the private Hong Kong-based company Crystal River Global Limited, which holds 0.8%.
Aerial view of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project mining site today
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Kamoa-Kakula Copper
It has a range of sustainable development goals which cover everything from ensuring there is no poverty on the mines’ sites to bringing clean water and sanitation, as well as a quality education to the residents.
The company is helping small-scale farmers to increase their production and lay the foundations for increased commercial farming as well as building an agronomy school in collaboration with the University of Kolwezi. In 2020, local famers, with Kamoa Copper’s help, produced more than 350,000 kilos of maize, earning $152,000 for the 22 communities and 248 beneficiaries involved while the more than 228,000 kilos of fruit and veg produced generated more than $300,000 for two communities and nine beneficiaries.
Kamoa Copper also established the Kansoko Training Centre to help upskill its Congolese employees to gain skills in mining, concentrator, and engineering maintenance. The longterm plan for the Training Centre is to develop Kamoa’s new generation of managers and leaders. In 2020, the Training Centre had successfully trained and deployed five crews for the Kakula Mine and two at the Kansoko mine.
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Access World prides itself on keeping up to date with the ever-changing commodity market. It is our philosophy to However, the mining industry in Africa – and meet the needs of our clients with tailor made solutions. Are you looking for quality logistics and warehousing services? Contact us for a reliable, friendly service, customised to your specific needs. the DRC, in particular – hasn’t always had a ASIANORTH AMERICA reputation for squeaky clean business practices. +65 6771 5600 ASIA_Commercial@accessworld.com +1 203 421 2300 commercialUSA@accessworld.com This is where Kamoa Copper is really working AFRICASOUTH AMERICA to be different. For starters, the remaining 20% +27 31 451 9200 AFR_Commercial@accessworld.com +511 437 7989 SAM_Commercial@accessworld.com of the company of the company is held by the DRC’s government itself.
What’s more, the mining area encompasses 41 villages which are home to some 40,000 people. Accredita�on accessworld.com HEAD OFFICE | SWITZERLAND +41 41 729 8620 info@accessworld.com As such, Kamoa Copper strives to ensure that the social and economic benefits from its mines are shared as widely as possible with the locals.
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Kamoa-Kakula Copper
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Kamoa Copper is also working to make sure that its mining operations have as little impact on the environment as possible.
The company has signed a deal with DRC’s state-owned power company La Société Nationale d’Electricité to get renewable hydro-generated power from the Mwadingusha hydroelectric plant around 250 km northeast of the Kakula mine. The plant provides around 78 MW – enough to power Kamoa Copper’s fist two production phases. The Inga II plant on the Congo River should help provide 162 MW of power, as well.
Similarly, Kamoa Copper has pledged to incorporate new equipment powered by electric batteries or hydrogen fuel cells into its mining fleet when they become available. These should not only reduce emissions but will also improve the air quality that its employees and the residents breathe.
Even the tailings – the finely ground rock, mineral particles, and water separated from the ore – are being responsibly disposed of by Kamoa Copper. The tailings will be mixed with cement and pumped back underground to fill voids and help support the underground mining infrastructure.
The steps that Kamoa Copper is taking to make its mining sustainable and fairer to the local population – whether they are working on site or not – is not only admirable but an example that could and should be followed by the others in the extractive industries. Plus, this work is more important than ever with the growing shift towards the electrification of transport which relies heavily on copper as a core material.
Hopefully, in the years to come, Kamoa Copper will be able to run a completely sustainable mining operation staffed and led by the graduates from it Kansoko Training Centre. We will all be better for it.
PROJECT DIRECTED BY Glen Newton
Mr Hisham Al Amoudi, CEO, KOJ Group
WRITTEN BY Laura Watling
