COPPER: Ivanhoe gets half-billion-dollar injection from CITIC

[caption id="attachment_1003728394" align="aligncenter" width="474"] The new southern box cut will allow a third decline to provide access and ventilation on the southern side of the Kakula deposit. (Image: Ivanhoe Mines)[/caption] VANCOUVER – Ivanhoe Mines has received a us$454 million investment from the  African subsidiary of Chinese company CITIC Metals. CITIC has agreed to purchase more than 153.7 million Ivanhoe shares at a price of C$3.98. This is the second major investment by CITIC, bringing its total investment to US$1 billion. The recent deal also boosts Ivanhoe’s cash position to US$1 billion, nearly twice the amount it  needs to fund its share of construction costs for the Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deal with CITIC is expected to close early in September 2019, allowing Ivanhoe to fast track the Kamoa-Kakula project to production. Ivanhoe is looking two development scenarios. First, the 2019 Kakula pre-feasibility study evaluates a first stage involving a 6.0 million t/y underground Kakula mine and surface processing complex. Second, a 2019 preliminary economic assessment looks at two more development stages. After the Kakula mine, additional mines would be built, bringing annual ore production to 18 million tonnes. A direct-to-blister smelter is a possibility. Ivanhoe has called The Kamoa-Kakula discovery the world’s best. The January 2019 mineral resource (at 1.0% Cu) was 1.39 billion tonnes grading 2.645 copper, containing 80.6 billion lb. plus 316 million inferred tonnes grading 1.76% copper, containing 12.1 billion lb. of copper. In addition to the Kamoa-Kakula project, Ivanhoe is upgrading the historic Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine in the DRC and developing the Platreef palladium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold discovery in South Africa. See the corporate presentation for details of the Kamoa-Kakula project at www.IvanhoeMines.com.