Le Cuivre

[energy_isere]

Maroc : Altus réalise de nouvelles découvertes de cuivre et d’argent à Agdz

Agence Ecofin 11 déc 2020

Suite à un programme de « cartographie prédictive », Altus Strategies a identifié de nouvelles minéralisations riches en cuivre et en argent au projet marocain Agdz. Elle prévoit désormais de nouveaux travaux dont un levé géophysique et bientôt les premiers forages.

Au Maroc, Altus Strategies a annoncé de nouvelles découvertes de minéralisation d’argent et de cuivre à son projet Agdz, au Maroc. Cela fait suite à un programme de cartographie prédictive mené avec le soutien du Campus du Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières (BRGM) de l’université d’Orléans en France.

Les minéralisations identifiées comprennent une zone de 450 m de long avec des teneurs à 3,50% de cuivre et 308 g/t d’argent au prospect Makarn North. La société a également intercepté des teneurs de cuivre de 3,59%, 4,67% et des teneurs d’argent de 149 g/t sur les autres prospects du projet.

« Le projet est clairement bien situé dans un district minier confirmé et très prometteur. La prochaine phase des travaux à Agdz comprendra un levé géophysique avec la technique de polarisation induite (IP) afin de définir les cibles pour le creusement de tranchées et, à terme, les essais de forage », a commenté Steven Poulton, PDG de la société.

Le projet Agdz, détenu à 100% par Altus Strategies, est situé dans l’Anti-Atlas marocain, à 350 km de la capitale Rabat. Il est constitué de quatre prospects principaux que sont Amzwaro, Miniére, Daoud et Makarn.

https://www.agenceecofin.com/cuivre/111 ... ent-a-agdz

[energy_isere]

suite de ce post du 5 juillet 2020 viewtopic.php?p=2306404#p2306404

Rio Tinto met à jour son plan de développement de la mine de cuivre de Oyo Tolgoï en Mongolie.
Retards et surcoûts annoncés.

Rio Tinto outlines Oyu Tolgoi’s path forward

Cecilia Jamasmie | December 18, 2020

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE:RIO) outlined on Friday how it plans to start production from the underground section of the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia by October 2022.

The company said mining at the new section of the mine, set to become the world’s fourth-largest copper operation by 2030, would be done by sections — Panel 0, Panel 1 and Panel 2.

Production will start at Panel 0, Rio said, adding than Panels 1 and 2 will boost output to the proposed 95,000 tonnes of ore per day. The last two phases, however, are subject to further studies with initial recommendations expected by mid-2021.

The update follows Rio’s announcement on Wednesday, when it said the “definitive estimate” budget for the expansion would be $6.75 billion ($9 billion). This meant the project cost went up by $1.45 billion.

.......

Rio has repeatedly said the underground expansion is its most important growth project. Once completed, Oyu Tolgoi will churn out 480,000 tonnes of copper a year from 2028 to 2036.

https://www.mining.com/rio-tinto-outlin ... h-forward/

[energy_isere]

Suite de ce post du 1er sept 2019 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 6#p2287106

Excelsior produces first copper cathode at Gunnison in Arizona

Canadian Mining Journal Staff | December 21, 2020

Excelsior Mining’s Gunnison copper project in Arizona has produced its first copper cathode. The in-situ recovery (ISR) operation is expected to sell the first copper cathodes in January 2021.

“I am happy to confirm that Excelsior Mining is the newest copper producer in the United States,” Stephen Twyerould, Excelsior’s president and CEO, said in a release. “Our focus for the coming quarter will be on expanding wellfield operations with the goal of achieving full, nameplate, capacity of 25 million pounds per annum by late 2021.”

There are a total of 57 wells at Gunnison, which includes 41 production wells and 16 compliance wells. Based on a 2017 feasibility study, the 24-year operation is expected to reach the 25 million lb. per year copper cathode production rate in its first phase of operations, with an expansion to the 125 million lb. per year rate that the site is permitted for.

The 2017 study suggests an after-tax net present value for the project of $730 million, based on $2.75 per lb. copper and using a 7.5% discount rate, with all-in sustaining costs pegged at $1.33 per lb. over the life of the operation.

The 38.7-sq.-km project includes probable mineral reserves of 709 million tonnes grading 0.29% copper, for a total of 4.5 billion lb. of copper.

https://www.mining.com/excelsior-produc ... n-arizona/

4.5 billion lb. of copper. C'est 2 millions de tonnes de cuivre.

[energy_isere]

Une ancienne émission de ''c'est pas sorcier'' sur le Cuivre : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuTZnp3spBs 26 mn

Visite de la mine à ciel ouvert de Chuquicamata au Chili, la plus grande du monde pour le cuivre. 700 000 tonnes de cuivre par an.





Oxyde de Cuivre à gauche, vert (minerai pas trop profond) et sulfure de Cuivre à droite (en profondeur)

L'Usine de concentration des sulfure de Cuivre est voisine , ici obtention d'un concentré à 30 % de Cuivre.



ensuite grillage pyrometallurgique à plus de 1000 °C



Coulée de plaques de 400 kg pures à 99.7 % Cu



Ces plaques sont ensuite electrolysées pour obtenir des feuilles de Cuivre pur à 99.99 % ! Prêtes pour l' exportation.



Puis visite de l'entreprise CLAL MSX qui fabrique en France des produits à base de Cuivre. Tréfilage du Cuivre pour obtenir du fil.



Laminage aussi.



Production des alliages de Bronze (avec Etain), de Laiton (avec Zinc), de CuproNickel (avec 25 % de Nickel).

[energy_isere]

Prospect de cuivre en Australie :

Castillo Copper provides update on Big One Deposit drilling programme
Published by Jessica Casey, Editorial Assistant
Global Mining Review, 07 January 2021

Castillo Copper Ltd has provided an update on the RC drilling campaign at Big One Deposit and reiteration of strategic forward plans.

During 4Q20, the drilling contractor completed 20 drill-holes at the Big One Deposit comprising of:
Six drill-holes for the 200 series with partial assays for visible copper confirming up to 4.1% copper (Cu).
14 drill-holes for the 300 series with visible copper mineralisation apparent in BO_301-06RC.
.................

https://www.globalminingreview.com/expl ... programme/

[energy_isere]

Projet de mine de Cuivre au Canada , dans les Northern Territory

KGL receives approval for Jervois copper project MMP
7 January 2021 (Last Updated January 7th, 2021 12:45)
KGL Resources has received approval from the Northern Territory (NT) government in Australia for a mining management plan (MMP) for its fully-owned Jervois Copper Project.
............

https://www.mining-technology.com/news/ ... r-project/

Jervois mine geology and reserves
The copper-lead-zinc mineralisation at Jervois is strata-bound in nature and has a strike length of approximately 12km, intercepting steeply dipping bodies of calc-silicate and garnet-chlorite-magnetite rocks, and garnet-magnetite quartzite, within andalusite-cordierite and quartz-sericite-magnetite meta-sediments (schists).

The project is estimated to hold indicated and inferred resources of 30.5Mt, containing 327,000t of copper, 22.6Moz of silver, 143,000t of lead and 47,000t of zinc.

As of October 2015, the probable reserves of copper ore stand at 8.4Mt, graded at 1.12% Cu, 0.20 g/t Au, 17.9g/t AG, 0.14% Pb and 0.14% Zn. Probable lead/zinc reserves stand at 444,000t, graded at 0.775g/y Cu, 0.13g/t Au, 45.49g/t Ag, 4.13% Pb and 1.72% Zn.

The project is estimated to produce 754,000t of copper concentrate at a grade of approximately 23% copper and 283g/t of silver during its initial estimated life of 8.25 years. The annual average production capacity is estimated to be 21,000t of contained copper and 1Moz of contained silver.

The project will also produce approximately 179,000t of bulk concentrate at a grade of 43% lead, 17% zinc and 1,069g/t silver.

Mining and processing at KGL’s copper-silver project
The mining method conceived for the project is open-pit, followed by underground.

For open-pit mining, the project will utilise a fleet of 90t trucks loaded by a Hitachi EX1900 shovel and a Hitachi EX1200 shovel for the first seven quarters, following which the Hitachi EX1900 will be decommissioned.

Underground mining will be introduced in the third year of operations, with long hole open stoping (LHOP) selected as the preferred method, while sub-level open stoping (SLOS) and benching methods are kept as alternative options.

The project will utilise twin-boom jumbos to develop the headings, 17t loaders (LHDs) will remove blasted rock from all development headings and stopes, and 50t trucks will transport the broken rock to the surface stockpile or waste dump. The production holes will be drilled by a large long-hole rig and the primary production fleet will be complemented by a dedicated charge-up unit, integrated tool carriers and a grader.

The proposed process plant is a conventional comminution circuit incorporating a primary crusher, a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill and a ball mill operating in closed circuit with a cyclone cluster, designed to treat a variety of ore types. A pebble crusher is also proposed to be installed in the future.
.................

source : https://www.mining-technology.com/proje ... territory/

[energy_isere]

Codelco va investir 1.4 milliard de dollars pour agrandir sa mine de Cuivre Salvador.
Passera d'une production annuelle de 50 600 t de cuivre actuellement à 90 000 tonnes en 2023.

Codelco okays $1.4bn plan to expand Salvador mine

Cecilia Jamasmie | January 5, 2021



Chile’s state miner Codelco, the world’s no.1 copper producer, has approved a $1.383 billion underground expansion of its Salvador mine, which will extend the productive life of the aging operation by 40 years and increase output by 30%.


The Rajo Inca project comes at a price tag 33% lower than the original 2014 estimate, thanks to the optimization of existing infrastructure and processes, Codelco said.

The expansion will convert Salvador, in operation since 1959, from an underground mine to an open-pit one.

Construction will start later this year, Codelco said. Initial stripping of rocks covering the mineral deposits is expected to take 22 months, with commissioning slated for the second half of 2022.

The Santiago-based miner anticipates to be producing 90,000 tonnes of copper by the first half of 2023.

The Salvador mine has the lowest productivity among Codelco’s mines, churning out about 50,600 tonnes of copper last year, just under 3% of the company’s total output.

One of many
Rajo Inca is one of six major projects the Chilean miner is advancing to boost production at its depleting mines.

A new underground operation at the company’s Chuquicamata division entered production in 2019, while a new mine level at the underground El Teniente mine will follow in 2023.

Codelco’s VP of projects, Gerhard von Borries, said last month that the coronavirus pandemic will have an economic impact of $210 million on the company’s coffers. Of that total, $138 million is due to operational continuity and production and the rest is from expenses in logistics, transportation, new facilities and purchasing supplies.

The company, which hands over all of its profits to the state, holds vast copper deposits, accounting for 10% of the world’s known proven and probable reserves and about 11% of the global annual copper output, with 1.6 million tonnes of production in 2019.

https://www.mining.com/codelco-okays-1- ... ador-mine/

[energy_isere]

suite de ce post du 5 dec 2020 : http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 9#p2312989

Le Kamoa-Kakula copper project avance bien.
Le minage a permis de constituer un gros tas de minerai (stockpiles) de 1.5 million de tonnes à la concentration de 4.03 % de Cuivre.
La production de Cuivre va débuter dans 6 mois à partir de ce minerai.

Production at Kamoa-Kakula less than six months away

MINING.COM Staff Writer | January 6, 2021

Ivanhoe Mines announced that underground development at the Kamoa-Kakula copper project in the Democratic Republic of Congo mined and stockpiled 269,000 tonnes of ore grading 5.36% copper in December from the Kakula and Kansoko mines.

In a press release, the miner said that given this progress, initial production at Kamoa-Kakula can be expected in less than six months.

According to Ivanhoe, the reported tonnage in the last month of 2020 was 7.6% higher than in November, while the copper grade was 10.5% higher. This means that the project’s pre-production surface stockpiles now contain approximately 1.52 million tonnes of high-grade and medium-grade ore at an estimated blended grade of 4.03% copper.


Stockpiles at Kamoa-Kakula. (Image courtesy of Ivanhoe Mines).

The company also said that contained copper in the stockpiles increased by approximately 14,400 tonnes in December – a 30.9% increase over November’s production reflecting the increased mining in the ultra-high-grade centre of the Kakula Deposit – to a cumulative total of more than 61,000 tonnes.

This development means that the project is on track to have approximately three million tonnes of high-grade and medium-grade ore stockpiled on the surface, holding more than 125,000 tonnes of contained copper, prior to the planned start of processing in July 2021.

“After more than 26 years of continuous efforts, Ivanhoe Mines and its joint-venture partners are less than six months away from initial production at Kamoa-Kakula – the first world-scale copper discovery on the African continent in generations,” Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe Mines co-chair, said in the media brief.

“Underground development at the Kakula Mine is well ahead of schedule and construction of the first phase processing plant is on schedule to produce exceptionally high-grade and clean copper concentrates beginning this July.”

Besides mining and stockpiling, December’s progress at the site brought total underground development to 29.8 kilometers – approximately 10.5 kilometers ahead of schedule. The monthly underground development in December was 2,521 meters at the Kakula mine and 271 meters at the Kansoko mine.

The Kamoa-Kakula copper project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (20%).

According to an independent pre-feasibility study released in 2019, if all phases are completed, the operation is expected to reach peak annual production of more than 700,000 tonnes of copper.

The updated resource estimate for the massive project shows it holds 1.4 billion indicated tonnes grading 2.74% copper for 83.7 billion pounds of copper and another 339 million inferred tonnes grading 1.68% copper for 12.5 billion pounds of copper at a 1% cut-off grade.

https://www.mining.com/initial-producti ... ix-months/

[energy_isere]

Zambie : la production de cuivre a augmenté de 10,8 % en 2020

Agence Ecofin 23 fev 2021

La Zambie est le deuxième producteur africain de cuivre. La production a raté de peu les 900 000 tonnes en 2020, une barre que le pays veut franchir en 2021. Alors que le métal rouge affole les compteurs en bourse, cela devrait générer des revenus record pour les caisses publiques cette année.

La Zambie a produit 882 061 tonnes de cuivre l’année dernière, contre 796 430 tonnes en 2019. Selon le ministre des Mines Richard Musukwa (photo) relayé par Reuters, cette hausse de 10,8 % est un « record historique » pour le pays.

Cette performance est le fruit des bons résultats enregistrés par certaines opérations dans le pays au cours de l’année. C’est le cas de la mine Lumwana, propriété de Barrick, où la production a augmenté de 16 % en glissement annuel pour atteindre 125 200 tonnes. First Quantum Minerals a également enregistré une hausse de 14 % de la production de cuivre à sa mine Sentinel (251 000 t), portant le total de la compagnie dans le pays à 472 000 tonnes.

Il faut souligner que ces résultats auraient sans doute été meilleurs sans la pandémie de Covid-19 et les tensions entre le gouvernement et les géants miniers Glencore et Vedanta. Ces deux situations ont en effet perturbé la production à Konkola Copper Mine (Vedanta) et Mopani Copper Mine, filiale de Glencore rachetée début janvier par l’État.

Par ailleurs, la production de nickel a plus que doublé en glissement annuel pour s’établir à 5 712 tonnes. La production de manganèse a augmenté de 79 % à 28 409 tonnes alors que la production de cobalt a baissé de 21,8 % pour atteindre 287 tonnes.

Notons que le deuxième producteur africain de cuivre vise plus de 900 000 tonnes en 2021, rapprochant un peu plus le pays de son objectif, celui d’atteindre une production annuelle de cuivre supérieure à un million de tonnes dans les prochaines années.

https://www.agenceecofin.com/cuivre/230 ... -8-en-2020

[energy_isere]

la fiche USGS pour le Cuivre : https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs20 ... copper.pdf

Finalement assez peu d' impact du Covid.

chiffres en millier de tonnes



ce que j'avais posté il y a un an : http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 4#p2307154

[energy_isere]

Le déficit sur le marché du cuivre atteindra 10 millions de tonnes d’ici 2030 (Trafigura)

Agence Ecofin 15 mars 2021

Le cuivre affole les compteurs depuis quelques semaines, en raison de la reprise de l’économie mondiale avec une offre qui peine à suivre le rythme. À long terme cependant, la situation incitera à coup sûr les producteurs à faire de nouveaux investissements.

Le déficit à court terme que connait actuellement le marché du cuivre se poursuivra jusqu’en 2030. C’est du moins ce que prévoit Jeremy Weir (photo), le PDG de Trafigura, qui a expliqué lors du séminaire Fastmarkets tenu les 11 et 12 mars dernier, que plusieurs facteurs porteront ce déficit à 10 millions de tonnes d’ici la fin de la décennie.

Si les observateurs sont unanimes pour dire que le déficit actuel est engendré par une forte demande liée à la reprise de l’économie mondiale, le chef d’entreprise voit la situation se poursuivre à cause des objectifs climatiques fixés notamment par l’Accord de Paris.

Avec l’élection de Joe Biden en effet, les États-Unis ont réintégré le processus aux côtés de l’Union européenne et de ses autres partenaires. Or, pour réduire les émissions de CO2 et limiter le réchauffement climatique, le métal rouge est un atout indispensable notamment pour les véhicules électriques et les énergies renouvelables comme l’éolienne.

« Ce que nous nous attendons à voir, c’est qu’un tiers de la croissance de la demande de cuivre sera probablement liée aux véhicules électriques, un tiers pour les dépenses en infrastructures dans le cadre de cette nouvelle électrification et un tiers dans les marchés émergents », a déclaré M. Weir, dans des propos relayés par Reuters.

Pour les pays producteurs, notamment en Afrique, cette tendance devrait inciter à de nouveaux investissements pour accroitre la production, surtout si le prix du cuivre se maintient à son niveau actuel (plus de 9 000 $ la tonne au 15 mars). En Zambie par exemple, deuxième producteur du continent, les projets à plusieurs milliards de dollars placés en attente depuis quelques mois par First Quantum ou EMR Capital pourront voir le jour.

https://www.agenceecofin.com/cuivre/150 ... -trafigura

[tita]

(plus de 9 000 $ la tonne au 15 mars)

J'avais pas réalisé que le cuivre s'approchait de son record historique (~$9'700 en 2011). Son prix a doublé en une année ($4'700 en mars 2020). Bon, tous les marchés avaient fondu à cette date, mais le cuivre était à $6'000 en janvier 2020.

[energy_isere]

suite de ce post du 10 janvier 2021 : http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 7#p2314947

Ivanhoe expects first copper at Kakula in less than a year

Cecilia Jamasmie | September 2, 2020


Ongoing construction of Kakula’s 3.8 Mtpa processing plant. (Image courtesy of Ivanhoe Mines.)

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) expects to begin producing copper at its Kakula project in the Democratic Republic of Congo in less than a year, as total underground development to date has surpassed the 20 km mark – about 6 km ahead of schedule.

Kakula, the first mine planned at the Kamoa-Kakula concession, is initially forecast to generate 3.8 million tonnes of ore a year at an average feed grade “well in excess of 6% copper” over the first five years of operation.

The Vancouver-based miner aims to issue an independent definitive feasibility study for the development of the six-million-tonne-a-year Kakula mine later this month.

It also expects to issue a prefeasibility study, including mining the 1.6-million tonnes a year from the Kansoko mine, in order to “take full advantage of an expanded plant capacity of 7.6-million tonnes a year at Kakula.”

Ivanhoe’s co-chairperson Robert Friedland, who made his fortune from the Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Canada in the 1990s, has been working on Kamoa-Kakula for ten years.

The mining veteran believes the project, being developed in partnership with China’s Zijin Mining Group, will become the world’s second-largest copper mine.

World’s “greenest” copper
Ivanhoe said it will soon announce the appointment of an environmental consultant to audit Kamoa-Kakula’s greenhouse-gas intensity metrics.

The firm’s report would provide environmental, social and governance investors with independent and transparent verification of the project’s contribution towards Ivanhoe’s goal of producing the world’s greenest copper, the miner said.

It also noted it was in “detailed discussions with a number of parties” about marketing and smelting its copper concentrates.

Last month, the company struck a strategic partnership with China Nonferrous Metal Mining (CNMC) to explore opportunities, including exploration and smelting, in Africa.

In January, CNMC opened Congo’s first large-scale copper smelter, the Lualaba Copper Smelter, 45km from the Kamoa-Kakula copper joint venture in the country’s southern copperbelt.

Kamoa-Kakula is a strategic partnership between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the DRC government (20%).

The company is exploring for new copper discoveries on its wholly-owned Western Foreland exploration licenses, adjacent to the Kamoa-Kakula mining license.

https://www.mining.com/ivanhoe-expects- ... an-a-year/

[energy_isere]

Codelco à mis en service l'extension de El Teniente bien en avance. L'investissement est de 759 millions de dollars.
La teneur en Cuivre est de 0.75 %.

Il y a encore d'autre extensions prévues :

Codelco kicks off production at El Teniente expansion ahead of schedule

Cecilia Jamasmie | January 24, 2020

Chile’s state-owned Codelco, the world’s no.1 copper producer, has kicked off commercial production from the $759 million phase one expansion project at El Teniente mine, 15 months ahead of schedule.

With ore reserves estimated at 157 million tonnes and a copper grade of 0.75%, the new section — called Recursos Norte — is expected to contribute about 20% of the ore fed daily to El Teniente processing facilities.



The next steps toward extending the life of the mine will be the Diamante and Andesita projects, both of which are already under construction, and the future Andes Norte project.

Once the full expansion is completed, set for 2023, El Teniente mine’s production is estimated to reach 500,000 tonnes of copper a year, positioning it among the world’s five largest copper operations.

Codelco has also begun building a new 3.5 km access tunnel, which will cost the company $49 million. Once operational, slated for 2022, it will be the main access to the mine and key to El Teniente’s future centralized maintenance.

The overall $3.4 billion-expansion project, which is expected to extend its productive life by 50 years, is part of an ambitious, 10-year, $39 billion investment drive at Codelco to open new projects and overhaul older mines.

El Teniente, located 80km south of Santiago in the Andes mountain range in Chile, already is the world’s biggest underground copper mine and the sixth largest by reserve size.

Codelco holds vast copper deposits, accounting for 10% of the world’s known proven and probable reserves and about 11% of the global annual copper output with 1.8 million tonnes of production.

https://www.mining.com/codelco-kicks-of ... -schedule/

[marocain]

(plus de 9 000 $ la tonne au 15 mars)

J'avais pas réalisé que le cuivre s'approchait de son record historique (~$9'700 en 2011). Son prix a doublé en une année ($4'700 en mars 2020). Bon, tous les marchés avaient fondu à cette date, mais le cuivre était à $6'000 en janvier 2020.

le cuivre est souvent un précurseur des bulles sur les matières premières, on est en train de revivre la situation de 2007-2008.