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REGIONAL NEWS - AFRICA 12 E&MJ; • JANUARY 2017 www.e-mj.com Ivanhoe Looking at Multiple Options for Kamoa-Kakula Ivanhoe Mines announced the results of a positive preliminary economic assess- ment (PEA) of two potential options for the start of underground copper mining on its Kakula and Kamoa deposits in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A second PEA, currently in progress, is considering additional options. Ivanhoe discovered the Kamoa deposit in 2008 and the Kakula deposit, 5 kilo- meters (km) southwest of Kamoa, in late 2015. The Kakula mineralization is sub- stantially richer, thicker and more consis- tent than mineralization at Kamoa. Development options considered in the current PEA start with a single, 4-million- metric-tons-per-year (mt/y) Phase 1 mine on the Kakula deposit that would produce an average of 216,000 mt/y of copper in concentrate at a mine-site cash cost of $0.37 per pound (lb) of copper over the first 10 years of operations. Mill feed would have an average grade of 7.52% copper during the initial five years of operations. Very-high-grade copper concentrates would average more than 50% contained copper, with extremely low arsenic levels. Phase 1 project life is estimated at 23 years. Pre-production capital cost is esti - mated at $1.0 billion. A second option for the Kamoa-Kakula project would be to develop two mines, one at Kakula and another at Kamoa, pro- ducing an combined average of 8 million mt/y. Copper contained in concentrate would average 292,000 mt/y at a mine- site cash cost of $0.42/lb of copper over the first 10 years of operations. Pre-pro- duction capital cost of this option is also estimated at $1 billion. Ivanhoe's options for Kamoa-Kakula project do not end there. The second PEA now in progress is assessing the potential for an initial stand-alone, 8-million-mt/y mine at Kakula, plus expanded, com- bined mining scenarios of 12 million mt/y and 16 million mt/y from the Kakula and Kamoa deposits. The current Kamoa-Kakula project's PEA was independently prepared by Ore- Win Pty. Ltd., Amec Foster Wheeler E&C; Services and SRK Consulting Inc. The Kamoa-Kakula project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group and the government of the DRC. Ivanhoe and Zijin each hold an in- direct 39.6% interest in the project, the DRC government holds a direct 20% in- terest and Crystal River Global Ltd. holds an indirect 0.8% interest. Ivanhoe and Zijin are continuing explo- ration drilling in and around the Kakula deposit area, using six drill rigs, to expand the extent of the known mineralization and support potential upgrades in resource confidence categories. Ivanhoe expects to issue an updated resource for the Kakula deposit in the first quarter of 2017. Regarding ongoing Kamoa-Kaku- la project development, Ivanhoe CEO Lars-Eric Johansson said, "We will be working with our partners Zijin Mining and the DRC government to develop Ka- moa-Kakula into the world's next great copper mine, generating widely shared economic benefits that will help to sus- tain communities, and deliver jobs and skills training, in conjunction with effec- tive environmental management." Zimplats Developing $264M Mupani Mine The boards of directors of Impala Plat- inum Holdings and Zimplats have ap- proved development of the $264 million Mupani mine in Zimbabwe. Zimplats is 87% owned by Impala, and its operations are situated on Zimbabwe's Great Dyke southwest of Harare, the nation's capital. The company operates four underground mines and a concentrator at Ngezi. Its Sel- ous metallurgical complex, 77 kilometers (km) north of the underground operations, includes a concentrator and a smelter. The Mupani underground mining com- plex will replace production from the Ru- kodzi and Ngwarati mines after they have been mined out and closed. Early project work, including mining the box cut and constructing the main access road, project offices, and other essential project infra- structure, started in June. The box cut was scheduled for completion in November, and preparations to start developing the main underground access are in progress. Zimplats anticipates it will take 37 months to develop the underground in- frastructure required to access the first planned reef panels, which will allow the first mining teams to be deployed from early 2021. Design capacity of 2.2 mil- lion mt/y is targeted for 2025, when a full complement of 10 mining teams (nine production teams and one development team) will be deployed. The new mine will have a life expec- tancy of 34 years extracting only relative- ly flat ore reserves (0 to minus 9°). The project will increase Zimplats' mineral reserves by 3 million platinum oz to 9 million platinum oz. Ivanhoe and Zijin are using six rigs to further define the Kamoa-Kakula mineralization. (Continued on p. 16)