Trigon Metals Inc. announces the full restart of milling and processing at the Kombat Mine. The Company has succeeded in restarting copper concentrate production at the Kombat mine in Namibia, placing the project on track to meet commercial production targets by the end of September.

On the evening of 3rd August 2023, the Company achieved the major milestone of turning on the mill’s crushing facility and starting the flotation circuit. The plant has been running in three-hour bursts as the Trigon team fine-tunes the equipment and sets up for a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week operation. Concentrate levels are building in the thickeners with first concentrate production pending.

Trigon President and Chief Executive Officer, Jed Richardson, commented: “I would like to thank our staff, contractors, suppliers, local partners, and the Namibian government for their concerted efforts in getting Kombat back into production. This milestone for both our Company and the Kombat community pushes us forward as a cash-flowing operation. We look forward to the continued growth of our operations at Kombat as Trigon offers yet more value to our dedicated shareholders.”

Local Director, Trigon Namibia, Jeremy Hangula, commented: “We commend the team at Trigon Namibia for their outstanding efforts at achieving the milestone of bringing these deposits into production. Support from our local shareholders and stakeholders has proven to be invaluable and has contributed greatly to the hundreds of jobs created, and currently adding value to the Kombat community.”

Barrick Gold Corporation is on target to meet its gold and copper production guidance for 2023 and continues to advance major projects which will drive value delivery in the long term through organic growth, president and chief executive Mark Bristow said.

Commenting on the company’s Q2 results, Bristow said improved performances from the Carlin complex in Nevada, the Kibali gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Lumwana copper mine in Zambia have laid a sound foundation for production in the second half of the year which, as guided, is expected to surpass the first. Key drivers of the higher anticipated H2 results are the Q2 completion of major maintenance projects at Nevada Gold Mines (“NGM”) and the commissioning of the plant expansion at the Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic.

Compared to Q1, gold production in Q2 was up 6% at just over 1 million ounces while copper production increased by 22% to 107 million pounds. Operating cash flow rose by 7% to $832 million, net earnings increased by 143% to 17 cents per share, and adjusted net earnings increased by 36% to 19 cents per share. The quarterly dividend was maintained at 10 cents. Year-on-year, the total recordable injury frequency rate (“TRIFR”) was reduced by 8% and greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 12%.

The massive Pueblo Viejo expansion project is making significant progress with the process plant currently ramping up to full capacity. The plant expansion and associated new tailings storage facility will extend the Tier One mine’s life to beyond 2040 and is designed to sustain gold production above 800,000 ounces pear year (100% basis) going forward. In Papua New Guinea, the resolution of the tax dispute has allowed us to work toward the re-opening of the Porgera gold mine by the end of the year, with a potential Tier One production profile, while the prefeasibility study on a Super Pit at Lumwana is driving its transformation into another Tier One asset, capable of producing into the 2060s.

In Pakistan, Barrick continues to make solid progress on the Reko Diq project. Reko Diq is targeting first production in 2028, at the same time that the Lumwana expansion is expected to be completed. Together, these projects will elevate Barrick into the premier league of copper producers, in line with its strategy of significantly expanding its copper portfolio.

Exploration, traditionally Barrick’s key growth driver, is advancing significant resource and reserve growth opportunities at Carlin, Cortez and Turquoise Ridge in Nevada, Veladero in Argentina and Loulo, Kibali and Lumwana in Africa. Barrick is also continuing to expand its global exploration footprint and has consolidated new prospective ground holdings in the USA, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Chile, Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire.

“Our asset base is the best in the business and it gives us a platform from which we can clearly see and plan for the future, managing the challenges and maximizing the opportunities. At the halfway mark of this year, we’ve again advanced significantly towards our goal of building the world’s most valued gold and copper mining company, and we have the strategy, the means and the motivation to achieve that,” Bristow said.

Copper 360 chief executive Jan Nelson said that the dip in the copper price is temporary and not the stuff of nightmares.

The red metal has been trading at 15% lower than in January 2023, presently in the USD 8300 per tonne range. But Nelson is not concerned and said that the copper market’s fundamentals remain very strong.

The price is still well above historical lows. Nelson said: “We’re looking at a copper price of USD 8,300 a tonne and people are panicking. It’s nowhere near the USD 2000 or 3000 a ton, which we experienced through the previous down dip in the cycle.” He noted that the long-term outlook for copper is positive, as the demand for copper is expected to grow in the coming years, much of it fuelled by renewable energy.

“Doctor copper or copper, that’s coupled more to infrastructure development and the health of economies has taken a little bit of a hit as we’ve seen some scares in the United States with the banking crisis and concomitant infrastructure development slowing down, some of the economic scares in Europe influenced by the war in Ukraine and the recent Chinese economic slowdown.,” he said.

Nelson expects copper to continue decoupling from traditional indicators as the green economy gains momentum. “The fundamentals of the market are strong,” he said. “The demand for copper is growing, and the supply is limited. I expect the copper price to rebound in the coming months.”

Bullish forecasts for the year remain with Goldman Sachs’s USD 11 000 per tonne twelve month expectation intact while on the bear side, analysts still do not see the red metal dipping below USD 8000 a tonne on downgraded views.

“Between the bulls and the bears, it’s a range that we are mighty comfortable with,” said Nelson.

Recently the Zambian government reported that copper production fell by 10%, and it ushered in its lowest output numbers in fourteen years. In April this year, the International Copper Study Group forecast a copper supply shortfall of 114 000 tonnes that is only expected to level out next year. Meanwhile it forecast that China’s use of refined copper will jump from a forecast growth of 1,2% in 2023 to more than double at 2,6% in 2024.

Vedanta Resources, owned by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, said it has reached an “advanced stage” of executing agreements with the Zambian government over Konkola Copper Mines Plc assets that have been in provisional liquidation for about four years.

“Vedanta is alive to the fact that the talks have taken a little longer than initially anticipated,” it said in a statement on Sunday. “The company is firmly committed to the process.”

The Zambian government placed Konkola, of which Vedanta owns 79.4%, into provisional liquidation in 2019, and since then has been locked in legal battles with the company over the asset. The dispute has caused output to plunge.

Vedanta has pledged to invest US$1 billion in the assets to double annual integrated production to 100,000 tons of copper, with the potential to 200,000 tons in the medium term.

Separately, Konkola struck a deal with Copperbelt Energy Corp., a Zambian power supplier, over a debt the mining company owed it. The agreement will see KCM paying the company US$20 million in installments.

There’s one matter left to agree on before reaching a deal with Vedanta, Zambian Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe told reporters on Friday, without saying what it was. “We are counting days, it’s no longer months,” he said in Lusaka, the capital.

BeMetals Corp. is pleased to announce commencement of its 2023 exploration program at the Pangeni Copper Project in the Zambian Copperbelt. Results from core and aircore drilling during the previous program have been integrated into our geological interpretations to generate new and refined existing targets for testing this year. This year’s planned US$2 million exploration program will be pro rata funded by both BeMetals and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (“JOGMEC”).

John Wilton, President and CEO of BeMetals stated, “We are encouraged by the core and aircore results from the previous program, and the targets now generated for testing this year. Importantly we have now returned significant copper mineralization at both the G and P targets which are near the interpreted basement unit to the Katangan sediment geological contact. This is the same setting known to host many of the large and often high-grade copper deposits and mines in Zambia.

Field activities commenced this week and will begin with approximately 5,000 metres of shallow, aircore drill testing of targets below the Kalahari sand cover. The lines of aircore drilling are focused on testing significant step outs from Targets G, P, and Q, in the south and southeast area of the Pangeni property, and identifying higher-grade shoots at the D-Prospect. We will also test the northeastern extension of a major structural feature trending across the central area of the Project at the new L-target. The drilling results at Pangeni to date, under the thin but extensive sand cover, and its overall geological setting within the prolific Zambian Copperbelt continue to demonstrate the potential for this project to deliver a large-scale copper discovery.”

UPCOMING EVENTS IN ZAMBIA

Copper 360 Limited announced its drilling results that confirm high-grade copper intersections at its Rietberg Copper Mine. Additionally, initial sampling has led to the discovery of new high-grade copper deposit on the surface.

Recent exploration activities included drilling four core boreholes in proximity to historical boreholes, confirming historical copper values and widths. Notably, boreholes RB360-3 and RB360-4 intersected copper grades of 2.97% over 22.27m and 3.57% over 6.66m, respectively. The drilling results validated the historical drillhole database the company holds and the inferred copper resource at its Rietberg Mine.

Beyond this, Copper 360 made a significant discovery at its Wheal Julia site during a recent surface channel sampling campaign. Copper oxide capping on the surface, extending 150m wide by 100m long and open to depth, was discovered with an in situ average copper grade of 5% and individual values as high as 8% to 10%.

Jan Nelson, chief executive of Copper 360, said: “The drilling results at the Rietberg Mine have confirmed the historical drillhole database and validated our modelling of the mineralized copper zones. The size of the copper mineralization is unparalleled, with copper mineralization of over 150m wide by 200m in length, with a down-dip strike of over 400m and open to depth at in situ grades of between 2.5% and 3.5%. This represents significant blocks of copper mineralization that we plan to mine using pre-developed infrastructure.”

Nelson added: “We have now identified and delineated several targets of copper mineralization confirmed by surface sampling not previously known. This entirely changes the landscape, as we now have the potential to develop several surface open pit deposits. We’ve mobilized a geological team, and drilling is planned within the coming months to test these targets to depth and prepare for open pit mine design.”

Copper 360 will advise the market on the upgrade of the inferred resource within the coming months.