Jubilee Metals Group plc (LON:JLP), a diversified metals producer with operations in South Africa and Zambia, has announced the commencement of operations at its Roan Upgrade project in Zambia. The commencement of the newly constructed front-end section of the Roan operation adds additional processing capacity and flexibility to the already operating Roan milling and flotation sections.
Highlights
· Jubilee commences operations at its newly constructed Roan front-end upgrade project.
· Roan’s new front-end capacity has been constructed adjacent to the already operating milling and flotation circuits increasing the overall capacity of Roan to a maximum design of 13 000 tonnes of copper per annum (tpa).
· The Roan front-end upgrade forms part of Jubilee’s overall operational capacity increase strategy which includes the Sable refinery upgrade project currently underway, targeting to reach a combined processing capacity of 25 000tpa of copper over the coming 12 months.
Leon Coetzer, CEO commented:
“We are proud to announce that the Roan front-end module upgrade project in Zambia has commenced production ramp-up of previously mined material, which has been upgraded at source, prior to producing a saleable copper concentrate at Roan.
It has taken a concerted effort by the team to reach this critical point in the ramp-up of the Roan Upgrade project. I look forward to the team completing an accelerated ramp-up of operations during the coming month.
The upgraded Roan, together with our Sable refinery, offers Jubilee tremendous processing flexibility and affords us the unique opportunity to aggressively pursue copper resources that are unlocked by this capability.“
Zambian Copper Strategy
Jubilee Metals’ copper strategy is enabled by Jubilee’s proven ability to extract value from materials often regarded by the industry as either waste or too complex to extract economically through the traditional methods.
The targeted copper resources are classed into three groups namely:
§ Previously Processed Material (includes tailings, partially processed discarded low-grade materials)
§ Previously Mined Material (includes historically stockpiled low grade mined material, over burden rock, such as the previously announced Waste Rock Project transaction)
§ Open-pit Mining of near surface copper reef (such as the previously announced Munkoyo operation and Project G)
All three categories are held in vast quantities within Zambia, offering Jubilee the opportunity to further upscale its operations through targeted acquisitions of these resources. Jubilee has actively pursued the three material classes to grow its copper resource portfolio as an enabler to drive the expansion of its processing operational footprint in Zambia. The success in securing these targeted resources has afforded Jubilee the opportunity to transition Sable into a dedicated refiner for the processing of Open-pit Mining operations such as the recently announced Munkoyo operation, while the upgraded Roan will process predominantly Previously Mined and Processed Material.
At completion, an expanded Sable and Roan will operate as independent operations. Once Sable is at full capacity supplied by Open-pit Mining operations, Roan can sell excess concentrate in the open market. The Company is reviewing the option of expanding the Roan operation to incorporate downstream refining of its concentrate depending on capital allocation. The targeted combined processing capacity of approximately 25 000tpa of copper, is achieved by an expanded Sable at 16 000tpa in addition to Roan’s expanded capacity.
Roan Upgrade
Following the release on 24 June 2024 announcing civil and mechanical completion on the upgrade and expansion of Roan (Roan Upgrade), the electrical control system (ECS) has now also been successfully installed and commissioned, allowing for the ramp up of production to commence.
The Jubilee team has begun with the feeding of Previously Mined Material into Roan. The material is upgraded at source before being transported to Roan where a saleable copper concentrate is produced. The copper concentrate will initially be refined to copper cathode at Sable until such time that Sable’s capacity is fully committed to the Open-pit mined material from Munkoyo and Project G whereafter the Roan concentrate will be traded on the open market.
This Roan Upgrade provides additional processing capacity complementing the existing sulphide copper concentrate capacity at Roan to a combined maximum design capacity of 13 000tpa of copper depending on the copper feed grades.
Website Updates
For more information about the sources of feed processed by Jubilee Metals in Zambia, please refer to the presentation uploaded on our website. Furthermore, a second video of Project Munkoyo has been uploaded on the website showcasing the commencement of mining operations and the establishment of facilities during July 2024.
