Ivanhoe expands Makoko copper deposit in DRC

Africa-focused Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) has pushed its Makoko copper deposit past 13 km in strike length and found fresh high-grade copper at Kitoko, it said Monday in an exploration update.An 81,000‑metre drill program last year in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Western Forelands drove the expansion. Drilling increased Makoko’s strike by 20% and added a new Makoko West zone with copper intercepts 120 to 300 metres from surface, between 5 to 15 metres thick. Ivanhoe reported mineralization at Kitoko similar to the company’s Kakula complex 10 km away and added 336 sq. km of new licences, boosting its overall project area by 20%.“The western extension of Makoko is demonstrating high copper grades at shallower depths,” founder and co-chairman Robert Friedland said. [It’s] potentially a logical place to commence mine development activities in the Western Forelands.”The Makoko deposit lies about 10 km from the western edge of the Kakula orebody at the Kamoa-Kakula joint venture with Zijin Mining. The JV, the continent’s biggest copper producer, forecasts output between 520,000 and 580,000 tonnes of copper this year. Ivanhoe is betting on exploration in the Western Forelands to extend the Central African Copper Belt spanning northern Zambia and the DRC.Global production of the red metal reached 22.4 million tonnes in 2023, according to Lisbon-based International Copper Study Group, an industry promoter. The DRC and Zambia contribute about 12% and 4% respectively – meaning the belt delivers roughly 15–16% of total copper output.Ivanhoe is to spend $75 million on exploration, down from $90 million last year, including 102,000 metres of diamond drilling and 18,000 metres of reverse circulation drilling in the Western Forelands. Updated resource estimates for Makoko and initial estimates for Makoko West and Kitoko are expected in the second quarter as the company sharpens its development plans for the assets.Ivanhoe shares in Toronto fell 2.3% to C$14.62 by mid-afternoon Monday for a market capitalization of C$19.9 billion.The softer share price might be explained by investor jitters about the ongoing security situation in the country’s east. The region erupted into international attention in January after rebel group M23, backed by neighbouring Rwanda, seized the area’s largest city, Goma. The situation remains unresolved.Drilling increased Makoko’s strike by 20% and added a new Makoko West zone on the Western Forelands copper project in DRC. Credit: Ivanhoe MinesTop discoveryMakoko, widely considered the largest copper discovery outside Kamoa-Kakula in the past decade, continues to deliver high-grade mineralization. In November 2023, Ivanhoe reported an indicated resource of 16 million tonnes at 3.6% copper and an inferred resource of 154 million tonnes at 1.97% copper, based on a 1.5% copper cut-off.On an October conference call, Friedland outlined a vision where the Western Forelands become the anchor of Ivanhoe’s future production strategy. He noted that existing infrastructure near the Kamoa-Kakula complex would enable rapid development of these discoveries.The newly discovered Makoko West extension is open along strike westward onto a package of new licences that were acquired in late 2024. Makoko currently ranks as the world’s fourth-largest and highest-grade copper discovery since Kakula in 2016. Copper mineralization remains open to the south, east and west.The Makoko West target is an up-dip, western extension of the Makoko deposit and saw half the Western Foreland drilling for 37,739 metres.A drill hole between Kakula and Makoko intercepted mineralization at over 1,300 metres depth, suggesting a potential link between Kakula West and Makoko across the Nchana Fault. Follow-up drilling is planned, Ivanhoe said.Exploration on the new licence package began before the wet season with a 200-sq.-km soil survey. The multi-element geochemistry results will be meshed with geophysical data to set drill targets. Meanwhile, two diamond drill rigs have been rallied for a 32,000-metre program scheduled to start at the onset of the dry season due in June and run for 24 months.Different styles of mineralization. Credit: Ivanhoe MinesKitoko growthLate last year, three drill rigs working the Kitoko deposit logged 6,976 metres in 13 holes, bringing the 2024 total to 32,590 metres across 40 holes. High-grade copper intersections continue at depths over 1,000 metres, with mineralization hosted in chalcocite and bornite up to 8 metres wide – a style like Kakula.Ivanhoe interprets Kitoko to occur in two onlap zones (East and West), where sulphide-rich Nguba group diamictites and siltstones overlie a subtle Kibaran basement high. Both zones remain open at depth and laterally. Step-out drilling in 400-metre intervals to the east, west and south is underway, and Ivanhoe aims to use these results to target new Kitoko-style deposits across the Western Forelands.Onlap occurs when newer sedimentary layers gradually extend over and cover an older, eroded surface. This process creates a contact where the younger rock ‘laps’ onto the older rock, showing how sediment deposition has advanced over time.Next stepsPreparations are complete for a second-year of wet-season drilling in the Western Forelands, Ivanhoe said, running from November to as late as May. Twenty-five km of all-weather roads and drill pads now provide access for a 35,000-metre, wide-spaced program focused on Makoko West and Kitoko.Six diamond rigs are to operate during the wet season on the Makoko–Makoko West–Kitoko system, with plans to boost the rig count to 11 after the season ends.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com