London- and Johannesburg-listed Jubilee Metals has reported progress on restarting its Roan operations, in Zambia, following stable power delivery, as well as the processing of new higher-grade copper feed material, in order to accelerate the production of copper.

As announced on January 20, Jubilee has implemented a new power agreement after the national power outages had a material impact on the company's copper production for the months of December and January.

In support of the company's accelerated copper production strategy, Jubilee says it has prioritised the processing of new higher-grade copper feed material while reviewing the option to trade, where appropriate, a portion of the vast quantity of surplus lower-grade stocks it currently holds and that do not form part of the company's short to medium-term production plans.

Jubilee notes that the Roan operations offer the unique ability to process high-grade mined material as well as previously processed tailings materials simultaneously.

This affords Jubilee the ability to significantly enhance its copper production at increased operating margins and recoup some of the lost production time.

In support of this strategy, the company says it has agreed to invest into securing rights to an initial 200 000 t of copper material with an expected copper content of about 1.6% copper, which is available immediately for processing at Roan, which is equivalent to more than double the waste material currently being processed.

The company explains that it holds the option to increase the initial 200 000 t allocation of copper material with the potential to secure a long-term feed supply of this high-grade material.

The company explains that Roan holds the capacity to process up to 45 000 t a month if all capacity is dedicated to the new high-grade copper material, following the successful ramp-up of operations during November.

Initially 30 000 t a month of Roan's capacity will be allocated to this high-grade material.

Jubilee says Roan will begin processing of the new high-grade material within the next week.

The company is evaluating the potential to operate Roan on this higher-grade material at full production of 45 000 t a month for an extended period exceeding three years.

Under the terms of the agreements, the copper material is settled through a part payment by Jubilee's Zambian operations and a payment of $2.70-million to be settled through the issuance of 51.77-million new Jubilee ordinary shares at a price of 4.20p a share.

In addition, Jubilee is concluding final details of the due diligence on the Large Waste Project with expected conclusion of the transaction as per the terms of the agreement during March.

"Our years of investment to transform the Roan concentrator to a position that allows it to uniquely process both run-of-mine and waste copper material simultaneously, is once again vindicated by the ability to opportunistically secure high grade adjacent resources,” says Jubilee CEO Leon Coetzer.

He notes that these high-grade resources have already been tested within the company’s facility, confirming its quality and metallurgical performance.

While the downtime experienced owing to the power outages at Roan had a material negative impact on Jubilee’s production over the past couple of months, Coetzer says the Jubilee team has demonstrated their ability to immediately react to the challenges faced.

He notes that the company has secured a stable power supply which has allowed it to bring Roan back into operation and has secured higher-grade material which provides an immediate opportunity to recoup part of the lost production and enhance cash flows within a short period of time.

Coetzer says the investment support from Jubilee to its Zambian operations ensures the company is able to capture this opportunity and increase its copper production as it accelerates its Zambia operations' recovery from the operational interruptions.

“Our Zambian copper strategy remains robust on the back of a vast resource base of copper material already at surface together with two operating openpit mining operations and a fully operational processing and refining footprint.

“We are reviewing several opportunities to liquidate for value certain of the non-core lower grade assets,” says Coetzer.

Copper guidance will be reviewed following a four- to six-week operational run on the new material, he continues.