The Kamoa Copper Project — a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. — has been independently ranked as the world’s largest, undeveloped, high-grade copper discovery by international mining consultant Wood Mackenzie. It is a very large, near-surface, stratiform copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, approximately 25 kilometres west of the town of Kolwezi and about 270 kilometres west of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi.
In February 2016, an independent pre-feasibility study (PFS) for the first phase of development of the Kamoa Copper Project was prepared by OreWin Pty Ltd., Amec Foster Wheeler E&C Services Inc. and SRK Consulting Inc. The report reflects the initial phase of project development and describes the construction and operation of a three-million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) underground mine, concentrator processing facility and associated infrastructure. The first phase of mining would target high-grade copper mineralization from shallow, underground resources to yield a high-value concentrate. The planned second phase would entail a major expansion of the mine and mill, and construction of a smelter to produce blister copper.
The Kamoa 2016 PFS includes an economic analysis that is based on Probable Mineral Reserves.