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AFRIcA DoWn UnDeR

Sentinel the new copper king

of Africa

irst Quantum Minerals Ltd’s Kansanshi almost half of the revenue generated each why one would go and invest in explora-
Fmine has been Africa’s largest copper year has been redirected to capital works tion for something that might be a decade
producer for many years running, but it’s on the smelter, mine, process plant or into away.
about to be overtaken…by the company’s expansion projects. “But we’re there playing the long game,
other Zambian operation. “That’s the bit governments tend to for- as are one or two other players; Anglo
While Kansanshi remains on track to de- get in terms of the requirement you need to [American plc] and Rio [Tinto plc] have
liver 220,000-230,000t of copper in 2020, reinvest in an operation to make sure that it established programmes there, but just a
the company’s Sentinel mine is “roaring”, has a long future,” Christie said. handful of juniors. I think if you hang on
according to First Quantum exploration di- “We’ve already extended the original long-term in Zambia, we will see the sort
rector Mike Christie, having just returned lifetime of Kansanshi and it looks like it’s of discoveries that we’ve seen on the other
a record quarter of production (70,829t) still got another 24-25 years to go, based side of the border in the [Democratic Re-
and costs ($US1.77/lb AISC and $US1.25/ on the current reserve, but if you don’t put public of] Congo.”
lb C1). that investment in then it will gradually be First Quantum has not recorded a posi-
Record output for the September quar- on the slippery slope of declining grades tive case of COVID-19 at its Zambian op-
ter (up 25% on the corresponding period and economics. erations since April during the early days
in 2019) prompted First Quantum to lift its of the global pandemic. Christie said one
full-year guidance for Sentinel to 240,000- of the positives to come out of this year’s
250,000t of copper. unfortunate events was stronger ties with
Speaking at Africa Down Under, Christie government authorities.
said Sentinel – part of the Trident copper- In 2019, the company paid $US774 mil-
nickel complex – was a “complicated and lion in taxes to the Zambian Government
quite hard” orebody which had taken the (First Quantum’s global contribution was
TSX-listed company the best part of five $US1.049 billion), providing a stark re-
years to understand. minder about the benefits mining can bring
“It’s taken us a little while to get the site to the host country and community directly
to ramp up to full nameplate production, impacted.
but it’s now roaring and it’s really going “We’ve had our ups and downs over the
well,” he said. years, as most companies do, but this year
Kansanshi’s output of 54,430t copper I think the extreme pressure of the pan-
at an AISC of $US1.61/lb and C1 cost of demic has been well managed in Zambia,”
$US1.04/lb for the September quarter was he said.
down 8% on the corresponding period in “It’s been a measured approach by the
2019, with First Quantum citing lower ore Government and most companies have
grades through the oxide circuit for the de- worked well together to try and mitigate
cline in production. the effects of the pandemic. And that’s
Some 2.1mt of copper was added to Mike Christie certainly worked well for us at Kansanshi.
the Kansanshi reserve base in the last 12 We’ve had really negligible impact there
months, however, Christie said the com- “It’s really important that that reinvest- and at Sentinel, but not without a lot of
pany was yet to fully map out a future plan ment goes back into operations. That’s work to make that happen.”
for the mine. certainly happened and will keep happen- In Mauritania, the company’s Guelb
“It’s been a fairly consistent producer ing at Kansanshi.” Moghrein copper mine is coming to the
but as the oxide ore gradually gets used First Quantum was also busy with the end of its natural life with a reserve of just
up, we’re heading into a deeper and lower drill bit during the September quarter, with 11mt @ 0.65% copper and 0.59 g/t gold re-
grade part of the system…it’s what you three rigs turning across its Zambian op- maining. Operations will transition to pro-
see in porphyries and so forth around the erations. cessing of existing stockpiles from 2021,
world, and also in the African deposits,” Zambia has largely dropped off the ra- although Christie did flag the possibility of
Christie said. dar as a prospective destination for for- future retreatment of tailings.
“This is a situation where if we want to eign explorers over the last decade and Despite its largest operation – Cobre
continue producing copper at the same Christie, whose background is in geology, Panama – being shuttered for four months
rate that we have in the past, then we need yearns for those days to eventually return. due to the pandemic, First Quantum’s
to increase the milling circuit to basically “It’s strange how few players there are group copper production is up 10% year-
mill more tonnes to get the same of cop- working in exploration in Zambia,” he said. on-year in 2020 and the company had
per.” “The drilling companies are always ask- recorded revenue of $US3.6 billion and a
One thing that is certain is First Quantum ing me why this is and I guess it has to do gross profit of $US634 million in the nine
will reinvest some of its annual profits back with the fiscal regime, in that if it’s hard to months to September 30.
into maintaining operations at Kansanshi. justify expansions on your existing opera- – Michael Washbourne
Since the mine was switched on in 2005, tions, then it’s even harder to understand

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