Ivanhoe confident of expanding Kamoa-Kakula into a top three global copper deposit – by Natasha Odenaal (MiningWeekly.com – September 11, 2017)

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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines is confident that the Kamoa-Kakula deposit, ranked the fifth-largest copper deposit in the world, will take one of the top three rankings on the back of the “unprecedented rate of growth” of the high-grade copper resource in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Ivanhoe on Monday announced assay results from another 43 holes as part of the ongoing 2017 drilling campaign at the Kamoa-Kakula copper project.

“The remarkable consistency of the ultra-high-grade copper mineralisation at the Kakula discovery is unlike anything geologists have ever seen in the DRC’s copperbelt. The discovery remains open in virtually all directions, so the real question is, how much bigger and better is Kakula going to get?” Ivanhoe executive chairperson Robert Friedland said.

His comments followed the confirmation of Kakula West as a significant new copper discovery and a potential new high-grade mining area, boasting characteristics and grades similar to the high-grade Kakula mineral resource area located to the east.

“In light of the successful drilling at Kakula West, the development plans will be reassessed and amended as the project moves forward,” CEO Lars-Eric Johansson added. “Ultimately, we see the potential for an additional mining centre at Kakula West, which could increase the ultimate mining rate at Kamoa-Kakula to at least 18-million tonnes a year, through a number of phased expansions.”

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