The leading metal recovery business, Jubilee Metals Group, announced last Friday the beginning of processing high-grade Copper feed material. Specifically at its Roan concentrator facility in Zambia.
As the plant had previously been using low-grade material to produce copper, this transition is a milestone for the company.
Recently, Jubilee had an agreement to secure an initial 200,000 tonnes of material with a Copper content of around 1.6%. This percentage exceeds double the current Copper content (around 0.7%) of the processed material at Roan. This Copper material’s payment will be settled through Jubilee’s Zambian operations. Besides, via $2.70 million worth of new Jubilee ordinary shares priced at 4.20 pence per share. The stock was trading at about 4.00 pence apiece.
The CEO of Jubilee, Leon Coetzer, stated:” Our years of investment to transform the Roan concentrator to a position that allows it to uniquely process both run-of-mine and waste Copper material simultaneously, is once again vindicated by the ability to opportunistically secure high-grade adjacent resources”. Expressing his satisfaction with the development.
Recovery Plan Following Power Outages
Jubilee’s broader plan to recover lost production is to shift to high-grade material at Roan, following months of power outages, which significantly impacted Copper production targets at its Zambian operation.
Additionally, a new power supply agreement has enabled the diversified metals producer to bring the Roan facility back online and maintain operations at its Sable refinery. With increased feed grades, the company anticipates a notable boost in Copper production from Roan. The facility can process up to 45,000 tonnes per month following a successful ramp-up of operations during November 2024.
Approximately two-thirds (30,000 tonnes per month) of Roan’s current capacity will be allocated to the high-grade material. However, Jubilee remains open to evaluating the potential for operating Roan at full capacity with higher-grade material for an extended period exceeding three years.
Long-Term Strategy for Zambian Copper Assets
Jubilee aims to replicate the success of its Platinum group metals and chrome business in South Africa with its Zambian Copper assets. The company employs in-house processing technology to maximise efficiency. Its two processing facilities, Sable and Roan, are designed to handle a combined capacity of 27,000 tonnes of Copper annually.
The Sable refinery processes historical waste rock and run-of-mine oxide Copper ore from the nearby Munkoyo Copper mine at a rate of 8,000 tonnes per month. Notably, the multi-metal refinery, acquired from Glencore in 2019, remained unaffected by the power outages.
“Our Zambian Copper strategy remains robust thanks to a vast resource base of Copper material already at the surface, along with two operating open-pit mining operations and a fully operational processing and refining footprint,” said Coetzer. Additionally, the company is exploring opportunities to monetise certain non-core, lower-grade assets for added value.
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