Published: May 27, 2025 |

[Click image to enlarge]

Ivanhoe Mines released an operational update on the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following the temporary suspension of operations at the Kakula underground mine on May 20, 2025.

Senior management and a world-class team of geotechnical experts continue to conduct a thorough investigation of the mine to understand the cause and effect of the seismic activity.

Seismic activity at the Kakula underground mine has continued to occur intermittently over the past few days. Given the recent seismic activity, underground activities were suspended again on Saturday, May 25, 2025, with employees safely brought above ground and mobile equipment removed from the mine workings. Preliminary indications are that seismic activity at the Kakula underground could potentially continue for weeks, which would inhibit access to the mine and prolong the temporary suspension of operations at Kakula.

As a result of the impact on underground pumping and electrical infrastructure, to date, there has been an increase in water inflow levels into the Kakula underground mine. Kamoa Copper, with support from Ivanhoe and Zijin Mining, is currently preparing detailed dewatering plans, including the acquisition of additional pumping equipment to increase pumping capacity and allow for dewatering from surface.

“I would like to extend my profound thanks to our dedicated workforce, who have shown exceptional resilience and commitment while working under challenging conditions during the recent seismic activity. The safety of our employees is our highest priority, and it is testament to the professionalism and focus of everyone at Kamoa Copper that we have recorded no injuries in a dynamic environment,” said Ivanhoe Mines’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Marna Cloete.

“While underground mining operations are temporarily suspended at Kakula, we are focusing our efforts on maintaining pumping and water management infrastructure, including accelerating procurement for dewatering equipment from surface. We are working around the clock with the world’s foremost geotechnical experts to establish the cause of the issues we faced and how we will resolve them,” added Cloete.

“We maintain significant optionality to maintain Kakula’s concentrator operations from surface stockpiles, or potentially temporarily re-deploy Kakula employees and equipment to Kamoa Mine, which continues uninterrupted,” concluded Cloete.

“We are going to gain wisdom and experience from the events that have unfolded in the past week. Ivanhoe, together with our partner Zijin, is operating in complex, high-grade sedimentary copper systems on a scale not seen before globally. What has transpired will give us valuable insight into managing geotechnical conditions and maintaining critical pumping infrastructure, which will allow us to future-proof and safely restart mining operations at Kakula … and such learnings will be applied in earnest to our activities at Kamoa and in the Western Forelands,” said Ivanhoe Mines’ Founder and Executive Co-Chairman, Robert Friedland.

“I remind readers that SpaceX — today responsible for approximately 90 percent of total payload launched into space by humanity — did not attain this status without numerous setbacks. Each setback brought their team new knowledge, making the mission stronger… and so we approach our operations at Kamoa-Kakula with the same mindset. Together we plan to restore operations to be safer and stronger than ever,” added Friedland.

As underground areas are deemed safe for crews to return, the initial focus will be to inspect, repair, and restart pump stations and associated piping, as well as electrical substations and associated cabling. Remediation work continues in the shallower western sections of the Kakula Min. Kamoa Copper’s engineering team is focused on restoring underground pumping capacity. In parallel, the management team intends to install at all of its mines high-capacity pumping systems that can operate from surface as permanent infrastructure.

Surface infrastructure at Kakula, including the phase 1 and 2 concentrators and direct-to-blister smelter, remains completely unaffected. The phase 1 and 2 concentrators are currently processing ore from surface stockpiles.

Mining activities at the Kamoa underground mine and processing at the adjacent phase 3 concentrator continue to operate normally.

Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa; the expansion of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the DRC, the ramp-up of the ultra-high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC; and the phased development of the tier-one Platreef platinum-palladium-nickel-rhodium-gold-copper Mine in South Africa. Ivanhoe Mines is also exploring for new copper discoveries across its 54-100 percent owned exploration licenses in the Western Foreland, which are located adjacent to, or in close proximity to, the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the DRC.

Be in-the-know when you’re on-the-go!

CLICK HERE to register your email address.

Copyright © 2025 Mining Connection LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

For licensing permission, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)