Page 57 - pd280-Mar20-mag-web_Neat

Revenge of the DRC copper miner

obert Friedland is making it his per- in Chile as the single biggest producer of be at least identical. I think there may be
Rsonal mission to help the DRC re- the red metal. some implicit racism in the high discount
claim the title of world’s No.1 copper pro- Last year’s feasibility study flagged rate applied to Congolese assets.
ducer. production of more than 700,000 tpa “We’ve operated in the Congo for 25
In his annual keynote address to Min- copper from the combined Kamoa-Kaku- years and never had a business interrup-
ing Indaba delegates, the Ivanhoe Mines la development, although the former de- tion. It’s amazing the things people say
Ltd founder questioned why so many posit remains a growing resource for the about the DRC having never been there.
investors, analysts and sections of the time being. So, I am here to defend the vision of the
mining community continued to shun the First production from Kakula is slated Congolese people.
DRC over apparent “safer” jurisdictions for Q3 2021, although Friedland suggest- “Our mission is to restore the DRC’s
such as Chile. ed mine development was “way ahead of position as the No.1 producer of copper
“It’s absolutely silly to think that Chile schedule” and the maiden copper con- metal in the world – and the world needs
is a safe place to mine and should have centrate would be delivered a lot sooner. it.”
a 3-4% discount rate and somehow the Friedland, who will turn 70 in August, Friedland’s discussion on Ivanhoe’s
DRC should have a 12% discount rate,” brazenly described Chile’s copper mines activities in the DRC was once again
Friedland said. as “like a little old lady laying in bed wait- preceded by his annual overview of the
“There’s this fiction that somehow Afri- ing to die”. world’s growing air pollution problem and
ca is dangerous and it’s safe for industry “The biggest copper mine in the world, why copper was the answer.
to go to Chile or Peru; I challenge that. which belongs to Rio Tinto [plc] and BHP “The Revenge of the Miners is opening
Having been working with my African [Ltd], had an average resource grade of soon at a theatre near you,” he quipped.
brothers and sisters for 25 years, I would 1.72% only 12 years ago and today the “We are the answer to the problem.
rather be in Africa; I would rather be in remaining resource grade is 0.52%; that Copper demand for electric cars is going
the DRC. is a stunning two-thirds decline in re- to rise 900% in the next five years. Cop-
“We have hungry young people that source grade at the world’s largest cop- per is a major commodity for the growing
want to make a difference and they’re per mine,” he said. EV market.
very bright. We can make copper with “So, how do you overcome that? You “Our company is going to produce
hydroelectrical power and, of course, make it bigger – you put in bigger mills, green copper. Our underground mines
Katanga [province] was the world’s larg- you increase the capacity, you grind will have a very small surface footprint;
est source of copper metal until Chile got more and more rock, you use more and 55% of the tailings we generate will be
invented in the 1970s. more electrical energy per unit of copper entombed forever underground. And
“With the deepest of respects, money produced and you make bigger and big- since our ore is such high grade, we’ll
is a coward; it runs away at the first sign ger tailings dams. People are going to have a very small tailings dam compared
of trouble. But, just as you catch more look at that and say, ‘is this truly sustain- to the monsters in the porphyry copper
flies with honey than vinegar, when you able? Maybe it’s a better idea to go find industry and we will use less electricity
get a success in the country, money fol- copper in the Congo’. per unit of copper.”
lows.” “Everybody thought Chile a very safe Prior to Friedland’s presentation, Ivan-
Ivanhoe is developing the world’s sec- place until it descended into chaos...I hoe announced an updated resource
ond largest copper mine in the DRC at believe the discount rate assigned by of 256mt @ 4.15% copper (based on a
Kamoa-Kakula, trailing only Escondida analysts for Chile and the Congo should 3% cut-off grade) for the undeveloped
Kamoa deposit, lifting the combined Ka-
moa-Kakula resource to 423mt @ 4.88%
copper.
An initial estimate of 1.5mt @ 10.7%
copper (5% cut-off) was also unveiled for
the Kamoa North ‘bonanza’ zone.
“We have 1,400bt of ore, but 1-2bt of
bonanza grade can recover the entire
capital cost of the Kamoa-Kakula devel-
opment,” Friedland said.
“The structure that controls it is more
than 20km long. When a ship disappears
at sea through the curvature of the earth,
from one ship to the other, that distance
is 26km.
“Why would you want to go to Chile
to look for copper? There’s a shortage
of power, there’s no water…there’s very
restive labour unions, yet it’s fashionable
to say Chile is the greatest place to mine
copper. I am rooting for the Congolese.”
– Michael Washbourne
Ivanhoe Mines co-chairman Robert Friedland (right) with Ivanplats chairperson Patricia
Makhesha on the Mining Indaba stage
aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT MaRCH 2020 Page 57