- Ivanhoe Mines (IVN) joint venture Kamoa Copper has awarded China Nerin Engineering the contract for a copper smelter at Kamoa-Kakula
- The smelter will incorporate leading-edge technology supplied by Metso Outotec of Finland
- This phase of development is expected to take seven months, with the entire project estimated to take three years
- Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company
- Shares in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN) are down 0.79 per cent, trading at $9.99 per share
Ivanhoe Mines (IVN) joint venture Kamoa Copper has awarded China Nerin Engineering the contract for a copper smelter at Kamoa-Kakula.
The contract was signed earlier today by Mark Farren, CEO of Kamoa Copper, and Wu Runhua, General Manager of Nerin, at a virtual ceremony.
Nerin is an international engineering company with more than 60 years of experience in smelter engineering and construction projects globally.
The China-based company will engineer a direct-to-blister flash smelter at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex that will incorporate leading-edge technology supplied by Metso Outotec of Finland.
The 500,000-tonne-per-year smelter will be the largest copper smelter in Africa and one of the world’s largest single-line smelters.
It will be built adjacent to the Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrator plants and has been designed to be able to process the forecast concentrate levels from the Phase 1, 2, and 3 concentrators.
The next steps in the smelter’s development include completing basic engineering, which is expected to take approximately seven months.
The smelter is expected to cost approximately US$700 million over three years, which will be financed with cash flows from Kamoa-Kakula.
“Today’s signing of the smelter basic engineering contract with Nerin highlights our commitment to the people of the DRC to derive more economic benefits from Kamoa-Kakula by maximizing in-country beneficiation,” said Kamoa Copper CEO Mark Farren.
“After a great deal of due diligence,” he added, “the partners at Kamoa Copper collectively agree that the state-of-the-art, environmentally-friendly technology offered by the Metso Outotec direct-to-blister smelter best suits the unique low-iron, low-sulphur and ultra-high-grade concentrate produced at Kamoa-Kakula, and aligns seamlessly with our goal of producing the world’s ‘greenest copper’.”
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa.
The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group, Crystal River Global Limited, and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Shares in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN) are down 0.79 per cent, trading at $9.99 per share as of 12:59 pm ET.