Jubilee advances Zambia copper strategy with second open-pit mine

Diversified metals producer Jubilee Metals has successfully concluded its due diligence of Project G, an open pit copper mining operation in Zambia, and has elected to acquire a majority interest in the project.

It will acquire the interest under revised terms, increasing the company’s holding to 65% from 51%, it said in a statement on Monday.

Project G marks the second open-pit copper operation acquired in Zambia after the implementation of Project Munkoyo.

Jubilee also announced it has increased the allocation of power under the recent private power purchase agreement (LHPC agreement) to secure an additional 2MW of power to ensure that all of the Zambian operations are fully supplied under the LHPC agreement.

The increased power allocation allows the Roan concentrator to operate at full capacity in respect of its newly commissioned front-end module and its existing milling and floatation plant.

Jubilee’s Zambian operations have now fully transitioned its power requirements onto renewable energy sources.

The company will settle the Project G acquisition value of $2m in cash, with a commitment to invest a further $500,000 into the upgrading of the project's operations.

Project G is targeted to commence operations and delivery of pre-concentrated run-of-mine (ROM) to the Sable Refinery by December. Under the agreement, Jubilee is appointed manager and operator of the open-pit operations with immediate effect.

Project G will ramp up over a six-month period to reach 3,000 tonnes per month of pre-concentrate material through a Jubilee on-site module, and delivery of an additional 350 copper units per month to Sable for further refining.

“These assets’ predictable, high grades and our ability to owner manage the operations allow us to control the optimal blend of feed ore to achieve the 25,000 tonne per annum copper target we have set for ourselves," said CEO Leon Coetzer.

Zambia holds numerous similar near surface resource opportunities, which Jubilee is actively pursuing, he said.

Project G and Project Munkoyo open-pit mines are located within 55km of Sable.

Project Munkoyo started operations in July and continues to ramp up to an initial target of 15,000 tonnes per month of ROM, of which 5,000 tonnes per month are to be delivered directly to Sable for refining.

Project Munkoyo remains on track to reach its initial target of 15,000 tonnes per month mined ROM ore by December.

MackenzieJ@arena.africa