Robert Friedland’s Ivanplats has just released new resource data on its Kamoa project in the DRC, placing it firmly among the world’s largest known undeveloped copper deposits.
LONDON (MINEWEB) – Canadian mining entrepreneur extraordinaire, Robert Friedland, appears to have done it again. Not merely content with his companies finding the Voisey’s Bay nickel mega-deposit in Canada and the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold project in Mongolia, his recently floated Ivanplats company has unearthed what it claims is Africa’s and the world’s largest undeveloped high-grade copper discovery. The deposit is at Kamoa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the location for most of Africa’s major high grade copper deposits.
According to the latest release from Ivanplats, Kamoa’s Indicated Mineral Resource has expanded to 739 million tonnes grading 2.67% copper, an increase of 115% since the company’s IPO in October last year. The new resource estimate has stemmed from a new, independent review of drilling results by AMEC E&C Services of Reno, Nevada.
The release goes on to note that the new estimate increases Kamoa’s Indicated Mineral Resources to a total of 739 million tonnes of material grading 2.67% copper, containing 43.5 billion pounds (19.7 million tonnes) of copper – more than doubling the previous September 2011 estimate of 348 million tonnes, containing 20.2 billion pounds of copper. Both estimates used a 1% copper cut-off grade and a minimum vertical mining thickness of three metres.
But there’s more. In addition to the Indicated Mineral Resources, the latest estimate includes Inferred Mineral Resources of 227 million tonnes grading 1.96% copper, containing 9.8 billion pounds of copper, at a similar cutoff and mining thickness.
The resource estimate has been calculated from 555 holes drilled into the deposit up to December and has been prepared to Canadian CIM standards.
At a higher, 2% copper cut-off grade, Ivanplats notes, Kamoa’s Indicated Resources now total 550 million tonnes grading 3.04% copper, containing 36.9 billion pounds of copper. At the 2% cut-off, Kamoa also has 93 million tonnes of Inferred Resources grading 2.64% copper, which contains an estimated 5.4 billion pounds of copper.
“The combination of large tonnages and very high copper grades establishes Kamoa as the largest high-grade copper discovery in Africa — and one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world,” said Mr. Friedland. Indeed a graphic compiled by Ivanplats only puts the Anglo American/Northern Dynasty controversial Pebble project in Alaska as being a bigger undeveloped copper property and that is a much lower grade deposit, but does contain substantial gold too..
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