Q4-2023 AnalysisIvanhoe Mines...

Q4-2023 Analysis

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd

https://www.alphaspread.com/security/tsx/ivn/earnings-calls/q4-2023
Out of the Ivanhoe Earnings transcripts...

And what is also good is that our recoveries have been in excess of design at 87% and that's also a reflection of power stability to some extent. So there's an opportunity to push that further. Steve Amos is going to take you through our very exciting Project 95 that we're launching to increase those recoveries much further. And then just to reiterate that our guidance range for the year, it's 440,000 tonnes to 490,000 tonnes of copper and concentrate. That factors in the early commissioning of the Phase 3 mill. And with the copper that we produced from Phase 3, we will be selling some of that concentrate that is coming in advance of the smelter, and we will also be stockpiling a portion to feed that smelter when it becomes available in the fourth quarter. So with that, I will pass to Mark Farren, our Chief Operating Officer, to talk you through the power initiatives in the DRC.

Next please, Matt. Okay. So this is something quite exciting. We call it Project 95. And the reason for the Project 95 is that the objective and there's 2 fronts to it is to increase copper recovery from the current 88-odd to 95%. We've been working on this for about 6 months now. So we've done a lot of work in the lab and the lab work is nearing completion.

The 2 aspects to this are: firstly, modifying the existing Phase 1 and Phase 2 plants, additional regrind capacity flash float, a couple of other odds and sides to improve recovery from 88% to 95%. As I say, test work almost complete and looking very positive. The way we'll implement this because it's -- in fact, it's a red field site, it's operating, is that these changes will do it similar to like we did in the debottlenecking during the planned shutdowns we're coming -- we do all the construction during the planned shutdowns, will come and do the tie in, so there will be minimal effect on existing production.

Then the second aspect to this is the current arising sort of the current tailings we're producing and the tailings that are in the tailings dam. So what we've done there as well over the last 6 months or so is we've designed a process where we can take these tailings, regrind them and get about 60% to 70% recovery on that feed to the new plant. That's a greenfield stand-alone plant. And that's effectively taking recovery to the 95%. We believe there's about 30,000 tonnes per annum in those current arisings plus what's in the dam and then some additional recovery from the modifications to the existing plant. All on track, probably April is we'll have some basic engineering, we'll have a cost budget estimate, we'll get approval, and we'll fast track this as soon as we can.