- Ivanhoe Mines (OTCQX:IVPAF) says it now expects initial capital costs for its Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo at $1.3B, 18% higher than previous estimates.
- Ivanhoe says the new figure, which includes expanded plant capacity, additional mining fleets and pre-production ore stockpile, will allow it to begin production at the mine in Q3 2021.
- The miner says capacity of Kakula's processing plant modules rose 26% in Q3 to 3.8M mt/year from 3M mt/year, significantly increasing projected early-stage copper production.
- When fully developed, the mining complex could produce 382K mt/year of copper during the first 10 years and climb to 700K mt/year after 12 years of operations.