The Canadian miner has been working on getting Kipushi back online and it estimates that a new concentrator, currently under construction, as well as underground development will be ready in the second quarter of the year.
This means that mining at Kipushi could restart in the second quarter of 2024, with the operation to produce more than 250,000 tonnes of zinc annually over the first five years.
“The signing of the new joint venture agreement heralds the beginning of a new era of production for the Kipushi mine, which will resume operations one hundred years after first opening in 1924 as the world’s richest copper mine,” Ivanhoe said.
The past-producing asset, considered the world’s highest-grade zinc mine, was shut down in 1993 due to political instability and low metal prices.
Gécamines chairperson Guy-Robert Nkunzi said the relaunch of the Kipushi mine is a source of pride for all its former employees, the local…
