Mining Intelligence and News
Zambia

Kitumba Project

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Summary

Mine TypeUnderground
Study CompletedPrefeasibility
StageConstruction
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Cobalt
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Uranium
Mining Method
  • Sub-level caving
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Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotKitumba copper project has 27.9 million tons of proven copper mineral resources, according to an estimate from a report released in 2015 by third-party independent organization MSA Group.

On August 16, 2024, the grand groundbreaking ceremony of the Kitumba Copper Mine was held.
Sinomine's Chairman and President, Wang Pingwei, announced plans to accelerate the Kitumba Copper Mine's construction and conduct additional drilling to expand copper resources and enhance the mine's economic benefits.

As of December 2024, Sinomine Resources Group planned to allocate $563 million to the Kitumba Copper Mine in Zambia, where it will develop a mining, beneficiation, and copper smelting facility. Construction is set to take one and a half years.

The company initiated surface stripping operations in April 2025, marking a significant milestone in the development of the mine.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Chifupu Resources Ltd. 35 % Indirect
Sinomine Resource Group Co., Ltd. 65 % Indirect
Junction Mining Limited owns the Kitumba Copper Project, with 50% ownership initially held by Momentum Ventures Limited and 50% by Chifupu Resources Limited.

In March 2024, Sinomine Resource Group acquired Momentum’s 50% equity interest in Junction Mining and Chifupu’s 15% equity interest.

As a result, Sinomine Resources now holds 65% ownership of both Junction Mining and the Kitumba Copper Mine project.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork
  • IOCG

Summary:

The Mumbwa licence area lies within the extreme southern portion of the Neoproterozoic Lufilian Arc. The Lufilian Arc is a large arcuate fold and thrust belt covering northwestern Zambia, the southern Democratic Republic of Congo and eastern Angola.

The geology of the Mumbwa area is described by Cikin and Drysdall (1971). The region is dominated by metasedimentary rocks of the upper units of the Neoproterozoic Katanga Sequence. These rocks are intruded by the large syn- to post-tectonic 566-533 Ma Hook Granitoid Suite and by younger post-tectonic syenites, diorites, porphyry granites, granites, diorites and gabbros. The east-northeast trending MSZ runs along the southern margin of the Hook Granitoid Suite.

The Mumbwa district represents an IOCG province that is related to voluminous an orogenic (Atype), alkali and granitoid magmatism and tectonic activity that took place from 570-500 Ma along a Pan-African transform plate boundary that separated the Congo and Kalahari Cratons (Pelly, 2001). IOCG systems associated with the Hook Granitoid Suite and related intrusions in the Mumbwa district display many of the typical characteristics of IOCG systems.

IOCG deposits comprise a broad and ill-defined clan of mineralisation styles, which are grouped together chiefly because they contain hydrothermal magnetite and/or specular hematite as major accompaniments to chalcopyrite ± bornite. Apart from copper and byproduct gold appreciable amounts of Co, U, REE, Mo, Zn, Ag, Nb and P may also be present.

The Kitumba copper deposit is hosted in a haematitic breccia system which occurs along the Kitumba Fault Zone (KFZ) that outcrops as a prominent north-south trending ridge forming part of the Kitumba Hills. Copper grades have been leached from the top 200 metres of the zone.

Deposits vary between magnetite-apatite deposits with actinolite or pyroxene (Kiruna type) and hematite magnetite deposits with varying amounts of copper sulphides, Au, Ag, uranium minerals and REE (Olympic Dam type). Typically, these systems are characterized by >20% iron oxides. Iron-rich zones, breccias and alteration halos associated with IOCG systems can reach hundreds of metres in width and many kilometres in length.

Deposits are localized along high- to low-angle faults which are generally splays off major, crustal-scale faults. Structural control can vary from the intersection of highly permeable units with fault zones, dilational jogs, duplexes, splays on faults and shears, folding or complex intercalation of high and low permeability units all influencing fluid flow regimes and ultimately the position of alteration zones, breccias and/or ore deposition.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Copper t 37,000477,077
All production numbers are expressed as cathode.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
Annual ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe1.5 Mt *
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe22.5 Mt *
* According to 2024 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs Copper USD 1.6 / lb *  USD
Total cash costs Copper USD 1.82 / lb *  USD
All-in costs Copper USD 1.93 / lb *  USD
Assumed price Copper USD 3.11 / lb *  USD
* According to 2015 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

Currency2024
UG mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
G&A ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2015 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
EBITDA (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 10% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe

Aerial view:

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