TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines has reported that copper production at the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), reached 388 838 t of copper in concentrate in 2025, in line with guidance.

Total copper production consisted of 385 808 t of copper in concentrate produced by the Phase 1, 2 and 3 concentrators, as well as 3 030 t of copper in concentrate produced by the slag concentrator located at the on-site smelter.

Kamoa-Kakula’s copper production was supported by a record 144 493 t of copper produced by the Phase 3 concentrator during 2025.

The Phase 3 concentrator milled 6.4-million tonnes of ore during 2025, about 30% above the design capacity of five-million tonnes a year.

The Phase 3 concentrator also achieved a record throughput of 1.66-million tonnes and averaged a record recovery rate of 88.2% in the fourth quarter.

As announced on January 2, the casting of the first anode at the Kamoa-Kakula copper smelter took place in December.

The company says ramp-up of 99.7%-pure copper anode production since the first casting is advancing to plan, with current production averaging 500 t/d, equivalent to an annualised production rate of 150 000 t/y after accounting for availability.

The first truckloads of 99.7%-pure copper anodes were recently loaded and are ready for export, with provisional revenues expected to be recognised imminently.

Further, Ivanhoe says copper sales for this year are expected to be about 20 000 t higher than copper production as the on-site inventory of unsold copper concentrate is destocked, predominantly during the first half of this year.

Prior to the first feed of concentrate into the smelter, Kamoa-Kakula’s on-site concentrate inventory contained about 37 000 t of copper.

Total unsold copper in concentrate at the smelter, held in stockpiles and the smelting circuit, is expected to be reduced to about 17 000 t during this year as the smelter ramps up.

As destocking occurs, Ivanhoe says Kamoa-Kakula’s management aims to capitalise on near-record-high copper prices.

The company notes that Kamoa-Kakula’s margins are expected to expand as the smelter ramps up, as concentrates produced by Phase 1, 2 and 3 concentrators are smelted on-site rather than exported unbeneficiated.

Kamoa-Kakula’s logistics costs are expected to nearly halve as the copper content per truck-load exported more than doubles, from about 45% contained copper in concentrate to 99.7%-pure copper anodes.

Further improvement in Kamoa-Kakula’s margins is also expected to be achieved through the revenues generated from sulphuric acid sales.

In addition to the production of copper anodes, Ivanhoe says the Kamoa-Kakula smelter is currently producing on average 1 200 t/d of sulphuric acid, equivalent to an annualised production rate of 400 000 t/y.

The smelter is expected to produce up to 700 000 t/y of high-strength sulphuric acid at steady-state operations, which will be sold locally.

The company notes that the first sales of acid from the smelter have already taken place, with the first shipment to nearby mining operations in the DRC Copperbelt expected imminently.

The company explains that sulphuric acid is currently in high demand by other mining operations across the Central African Copperbelt, especially following the export ban on acid by Zambia in September 2025.

It notes that spot acid prices have reached as high as $700/t in Kolwezi in recent months.

Recent sales have taken place at materially higher prices than the $150/t forecast price used in the Kamoa-Kakula Integrated Development Plan 2023 Technical Report, dated March 6, 2023.

Additionally, Ivanhoe notes that there is currently 5 600 l a second of installed pumping capacity at the Kakula mine, excluding the Stage 2 pumping infrastructure.

Stage 3 dewatering activities are expected to continue into the second quarter of this year and will not be on the critical path for Kakula’s mining operations.

In addition, the western side of the Kakula mine has been dewatered, enabling the mining of higher-grade areas.

Ivanhoe says head grades from mining areas on the western side of Kakula are expected to increase from 3.5% copper in January to about 4% copper by the end of the first quarter of this year.

In addition, selective mining on the eastern side of the Kakula mine began ahead of schedule at the end of December.

KIPUSHI

Meanwhile, Ivanhoe notes that the Kipushi concentrator, also in the DRC, produced a record 203 168 t of zinc in 2025, including a quarterly record of 61 444 t in the fourth quarter of 2025, achieving guidance.

The company notes that zinc production from the Kipushi concentrator continued to improve in the fourth quarter, breaking the third-quarter throughput and production records.

The company attributes the improvement in production rates to the ramp-up following the completion of the debottlenecking programme in the third quarter, as well as improved power availability owing to the installation of additional back-up generator power in the fourth quarter.

Engineering work on the debottlenecking programme began in September 2024 to boost the concentrator throughput rate by 20% from 800 000 t/y to 960 000 t/y of ore.

The debottlenecking programme was completed in early August 2025, both ahead of schedule and under budget, following a seven-day planned shutdown.

Ivanhoe says multiple concentrator records have since been achieved, including a monthly record of 22 629 t of zinc in concentrate produced in December.

In addition, during December, recoveries averaged a record 93.4%.

The production record is equivalent to a yearly production rate of over 270 000 t of zinc.

Ivanhoe says maintaining this production rate would make the Kipushi mine the world’s fifth-largest zinc mine.

Despite improved production rates, however, the company says operations remain affected by electrical grid instability.

An additional 6 MW of back-up generator capacity were installed in the fourth quarter, improving operational consistency.

Ivanhoe says the new generators increase the total on-site back-up power to 20 MW, sufficient to maintain steady-state operations during periods of grid instability.

GUIDANCE

Ivanhoe has set its production guidance for Kamoa-Kakula at between 380 000 t and 420 000 t of copper this year, while Kipushi is expected to produce between 240 000 t and 290 000 t of zinc.

As disclosed on December 3, 2025, Ivanhoe notes that Kamoa-Kakula’s 2027 copper production guidance was set at between 500 000 t and 540 000 t of copper.

The company explains that production rates are expected to steadily improve as the Kakula mine recovery plan is completed, and annualised copper production expected to return to about 550 000 t over the medium- and long term.

The ramp-up of the Kamoa-Kakula smelter to its annualised run rate of 500 000 t/y is expected towards year-end.

In the meantime, Ivanhoe says Kamoa-Kakula’s management team will prioritise the processing of concentrates produced by the Phase 1, 2, and 3 concentrators through the on-site smelter, with any excess concentrate toll-treated at the Lualaba copper smelter, near Kolwezi, on the DRC Copperbelt.

The mid-point of Kamoa-Kakula’s copper production is 400 000 t of copper, representing about 80% of the smelter’s total capacity.

Meanwhile, Ivanhoe reiterates that the ramp-up of the Phase 1 concentrator at its Platreef platinum group metal and nickel mine, in South Africa, continues to advance in line with expectations, following first production of platinum/palladium/nickel/rhodium/gold/copper concentrate on November 18, 2025.

As previously guided, the company says lower-grade development ore will continue to be fed into the concentrator during the initial ramp-up stages until Shaft 3 is ready to hoist in early second quarter of this year, at which point feed will be increasingly replaced by production ore.

From early in the second quarter of this year, the company says, the concentrator is expected to steadily ramp-up, consistently achieving 80% of nameplate capacity by mid-year.