Ivanhoe Mines expands Kipushi zinc and copper zones
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Africa-focused project developer Ivanhoe Mines on Tuesday reported that early results from the company's underground diamond-drilling programme at the Kipushi copper/zinc/germanium/lead/precious-metals mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had established significant down-dip extensions of the unmined high-grade ‘Big Zinc’ discovery.
Drilling had extended the Big Zinc mineralisation to a depth of about 1 700 m below the surface, about 200 m deeper than the previous lowest level of the Big Zinc discovery's historical measured and indicated resources, as they were recorded 20 years ago before Kipushi was placed on care and maintenance by its former owner in 1993.
“Based on the initial indications we have seen to date, this has been a very encouraging start to our long-anticipated exploration of the principal, known mineralised assets at Kipushi,” Ivanhoe executive chairperson Robert Friedland said.
Definitive assays for copper, zinc, lead, germanium and precious metals contained in the first four Ivanhoe drill holes were still pending.
Ivanhoe said that two drill rigs were currently active on site, and a third rig had arrived and would soon start drilling. Dewatering the flooded mine is an ongoing operation, and the company expects to access the important 1 272-m-level hanging wall drift this month, which would allow Ivanhoe to start the drill programme's phase of twinning the historical drilling.
"Drilling at Kipushi continues to identify thick intersections of strong sphalerite and chalcopyrite mineralisation,” Ivanhoe CEO Lars-Eric Johansson said.
"We will continue to carry out more extensional drilling to enable us to identify potential high-grade material down-plunge below the 1 500 m level. Given the close proximity of Kipushi to several copper smelters in neighbouring Zambia, the intersections of copper-rich chalcopyrite and bornite mineralisation encountered in the drill holes below the former mine workings are highly encouraging."
Crews have been upgrading underground and surface infrastructure to support the drilling programme since access was restored to the mine's main working level at 1 150 m below the surface in December.
The Kipushi mine is located on the Central African Copperbelt in southern Katanga province, about 30 km south-west of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi and less than a kilometre from the international border with Zambia.
The idled mine flooded in early 2011 owing to a lack of pumping maintenance over an extended period. After acquiring a 68% interest in Kipushi from Gécamines in November 2011, Ivanhoe assumed responsibility for ongoing rehabilitation and pumping, which had now reached the 1 265-metre level. Gécamines continues to hold a 32% interest in Kipushi.
UNDERSTATED GRADES
Meanwhile, Johansson also reported that Ivanhoe recently received the findings of an independent review conducted by Johannesburg-based MSA Group, which undertook a comprehensive resampling programme of historical Kipushi core from drilling by Gécamines into the Big Zinc discovery in the early 1990s.
The resampling programme was conducted over eight complete drill intersections of the Big Zinc, from eight separate section lines and represented 18% of the total samples in the Big Zinc's historical assay database.
MSA's review revealed that the zinc assay results reported on average 5.5% higher than the assay results originally reported by Gécamines. MSA also concluded that density applied by Gécamines for estimating the tonnage in the Big Zinc discovery was understated by an average of 9%.
In the Kipushi mine’s 70 years of operation, 60-million tonnes of materials were extracted at a grade of 6.78% copper and 11.03% zinc. In addition, 400 000 t of lead, 45 000 t of cadmium and 120 t of germanium were extracted through the existing processing plant.
Kipushi currently has a historic measured and indicated resource – stated only to the 1 500 m level – of 16.92-million tonnes grading 2.32% copper and 16.76% zinc.
Ivanhoe Mines, formerly known as Ivanplats, also owns the high-grade Kamoa copper deposit in the DRC, as well as the Platreef polymetals project, in South Africa.
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