Kamoa Copper signs off-take agreements

(Posted on 14/06/21)

New agreements will allow Kamoa Copper to export blister and concentrate copper locally through Lualaba Copper Smelter, and internationally through CITIC Metal and Zijin Mining Group.

The Chairman of the Board at Kamoa Copper S.A., Ben Munanga, has announced that Kamoa Copper has signed copper concentrate and blister copper offtake agreements, on competitive arm's-length commercial terms, for 100% of Kamoa’s phase 1 copper output (copper concentrate and blister), which is anticipated to be approximately 200,000 tonnes of copper per year.

Kamoa Copper signed off-take agreements with CITIC Metal (HK) Limited (CITIC Metal) and Gold Mountains (H.K.) International Mining Company Limited, a subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group, for 50% each of Kamoa’s copper products from phase 1. The remaining 50% of products will go to a multiple of other partners. The demand for Kamoa’s copper is due to its clean, high-grade concentrate, is estimated to contain roughly 57% copper and very minimal levels of contaminants.

Munanga commented that “We are very pleased to have reached agreements with our partners CITIC Metal and Zijin at internationally-competitive terms. The agreements reflect the great partnership we have with CITIC Metal and Zijin, and the advance payment facilities significantly reduce the mine’s working capital requirements as Phase 1 production ramps up.”

Kamoa Copper started copper production on 25 May 2021, and on 1 June 2021 delivered its first concentrate to the Lualaba Copper Smelter nearby, outside Kolwezi. Kamoa Copper signed a 10-year agreement with the Lualaba Copper Smelter (LCS) on 31st May, for the processing of approximately 40% of Kamoa’s copper concentrate production. This agreement is followed by the conclusion of a strategic partnership with Ivanhoe Mines and the China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC) and is in keeping with Kamoa’s commitment to in-country beneficiation.

The smelter, which began operations in early 2020, will process up to 150,000 wet metric tonnes of Kamoa’s copper concentrate at a market-based fee. LCS will locally produce blister copper containing approximately 99% copper that will be collected by Kamoa from LCS’s storage facility. LCS has been developed in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the first modern, big, pyro-metallurgical copper smelting plant and located about 40 kilometres from Kamoa, along a recently constructed road.

Rochelle de Villiers, Kamoa Copper’s CFO, who is leading the concentrate off-take and marketing negotiations, stated: "Kamoa Copper is pleased to have concluded an agreement with LCS, which will make up about 40% of the total volumes of concentrate produced by phase 1, making the most of available in-country smelter capacity. We look forward to a long-term collaboration with our new partner."

Kamoa’s off-take agreements with CITIC Metal (HK) Limited (CITIC Metal) and Gold Mountains (H.K.) International Mining Company Limited, a subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group include both concentrate exports (60%) and blister copper ingots from LCS (40%).

Kamoa Copper S.A. is expected to yield an exceedingly high-quality, clean copper concentrate, desirable for smelter across the globe.