New road infrastructure will provide Kamoa-Kakula with important new transportation connections for shipping construction materials and copper concentrates
Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of Congo--(Newsfile Corp. - June 24, 2019) - Robert Friedland and Yufeng "Miles" Sun, Co-Chairmen of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF), announced today that with the onset of the dry season in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), construction of the new highway directly linking the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project to the Kolwezi airport, located southeast of the city of Kolwezi, is progressing rapidly.
The new 34-kilometre, east-west road is approximately 25% complete and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2019. When complete, the road will significantly improve Kamoa-Kakula's transportation corridor that is being used to bring in mining equipment and construction materials, and that will be used to transport copper concentrates. The new road also will improve the safety and commuting time for employees between Kamoa-Kakula and Kolwezi and Lubumbashi, as well as for mine visitors arriving at the Kolwezi airport. See Figure 1 for details.
The new road will provide Kamoa-Kakula with a direct, high-quality connection to the national road between Kolwezi and Lubumbashi, and to a proposed, new south-bound provincial road that will connect to Lumwana, Zambia and the Zambian rail system, via a planned new border crossing. This proposed heavy-haul route to Zambia would significantly streamline truck freight to and from Kamoa-Kakula.
The Kamoa-Kakula joint venture is constructing 19 kilometres of the new provincial road (red line in Figure 1), while the Lualaba provincial government is constructing the remaining 15 kilometres (light blue line in Figure 1) under a toll concession agreement with a DRC-based contracting company. The toll road also will include a new north-bound, nine-kilometre section of road (yellow line in Figure 1) connecting all the mines on the western side of Kolwezi to the new provincial road.
A separate eight-kilometre, private mine access road also is being constructed by the Kamoa-Kakula joint venture at Kamoa-Kakula to safely by-pass the villages of Israel and Kaponda (green line in Figure 1). This road also is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2019 and will connect the Kakula Mine directly to the new 34-kilometre provincial road. The private mine road also will be available for transporting ore mined elsewhere on the Kamoa-Kakula Project to the Kakula concentrator for processing.
Figure 1: Map showing roads linking Kamoa-Kakula to Kolwezi airport, Lubumbashi, Luau (Angola), and the proposed road to Zambia.
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Figures 3 and 4: Ongoing construction work on the new 11-metre wide highway from the Kamoa-Kakula Project to Kolwezi airport, which is designed for speeds up to 80 kilometres per hour.
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The Kamoa-Kakula Project is approximately 25 kilometres west of the mining centre of Kolwezi in the DRC. It is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the DRC government (20%). Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining are co-funding development of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project.
About Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Platreef palladium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold discovery in South Africa; and the extensive redevelopment and upgrading of the historic Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC. Ivanhoe also is exploring for new copper discoveries on its wholly-owned Western Foreland exploration licences in the DRC, near the Kamoa-Kakula Project.
Information contacts
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Cautionary statement on forward-looking information
Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Such statements include without limitation: (i) statements regarding the new 34-kilometre, east-west highway is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2019; (ii) statements regarding the eight-kilometre, private, mine haulage road on the Kamoa-Kakula Project also is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2019; (iii) statements regarding the private mine road also will be available for transporting ore mined elsewhere on the Kamoa-Kakula Project to the Kakula concentrator for processing; and (iv) statements regarding a proposed, new south-bound provincial road to the Zambian rail system at Solwezi, Zambia, via a new border crossing, would significantly streamline truck freight to and from Kamoa-Kakula.
Forward-looking statements and information involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or information, including, but not limited to, the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the company's MD&A, as well as the inability to obtain regulatory approvals in a timely manner; the potential for unknown or unexpected events to cause contractual conditions to not be satisfied; unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; and the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations.
Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward- looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release.
The company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the factors set forth in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in the company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2018 and its Annual Information Form.
