Ivanhoe Mines begins copper anode production at new Congo smelter

Ivanhoe Mines ( TSX: IVN) has actually formally started copper anode manufacturing at Kamoa-Kakula’s direct-to-blister smelter in the Autonomous Republic of the Congo.

Initial manufacturing took place on Dec. 29, 2025, around 5 weeks after the commencement of smelter’s heat-up and one week after the initial feed of concentrate, the business claimed in a declaration Friday. The center, with a steady-state capability of 500,000 tonnes per year, would certainly be the biggest in Africa as soon as increase.

” The initial manufacturing of copper anodes from our first-rate smelter is a specifying minute for Kamoa-Kakula,” Ivanhoe’s creator and exec co-chairman Robert Friedland claimed in a press release. He included that the center will certainly “supply the first-rate Congolese copper anodes to the global markets, establishing a brand-new international standard for range, effectiveness, and sustainability.”

Experts at BMO Resources Markets, in a note released Friday, claimed Ivanhoe’s statement of initial anode manufacturing from the Kamoa-Kakula smelter drops in line with support and the financial institution’s assumptions.

Shares of Ivanhoe Mines leapt as high as 5% on the statement, prior to paring some gains. By lunchtime in Toronto, it traded at around C$ 16 each with a market capitalization of C$ 23.2 billion ($ 16.9 billion).

Ramp-up proceeds

Ivanhoe claimed Friday that it is currently increase the Kamoa-Kakula copper smelter to its annualized price of 500,000 tonnes of 99.7%- pure copper anode, with conclusion anticipated by year-end.

As revealed by the business last month, Kamoa-Kakula’s copper manufacturing is approximated at in between 380,000 and 420,000 tonnes in 2026, with the mid-point of 400,000 tonnes standing for around 80% of the smelter’s complete capability.

According to the Canadian miner, the Kamoa-Kakula administration group is anticipated to focus on the handling of focuses generated by the Stage 1, 2, and 3 concentrators via the on-site smelter, with any kind of excess concentrate toll-treated at the Lualaba smelter near Kolwezi.

Before the initial feed of concentrate right into the smelter, Kamoa-Kakula’s on-site concentrate supply included around 37,000 tonnes of copper. Overall unsold copper in concentrate at the smelter, kept in accumulations and the smelting circuit, is anticipated to be lowered to around 17,000 tonnes throughout 2026 as the smelter increases.

Therefore, 2026 copper sales are anticipated to be around 20,000 tonnes greater than copper manufacturing as the on-site supply of unsold copper concentrate is destocked, mostly throughout the initial fifty percent of 2026, Ivanhoe claimed. As destocking takes place, Kamoa-Kakula’s administration intends to profit from near-record-high copper rates, it included.

Phase 2 dewatering done

Ivanhoe additionally kept in mind that it has actually finished the Phase 2 dewatering of the Kakula mine, which came to be swampedfollowing an earthquake last May The case influenced mining procedures on the eastern side of the mine, placing a damage in the business’s 2025 copper manufacturing.

Complying with months of dewatering tasks, careful mining started on the influenced locations in late December, which Ivanhoe claimed led timetable. Phase 3 dewatering will certainly currently take control of, containing re-commissioning the existing, water-damaged below ground straight pump terminals, which are utilized for steady-state procedures.

3 dewatering tasks are anticipated to proceed right into Q2 2026 and will certainly not get on the crucial course for Kakula’s mining procedures, Ivanhoe claimed.