Jubilee Metals: Zambia Copper and Cobalt Operations Update
Jubilee, the AIM and Altx traded metals processing company, is pleased to announce the successful completion of the water infrastructure upgrade at its Roan Project and continued advances in the production of cobalt and copper from waste at its Sable Refinery in Zambia.
As announced on 22 November 2022, the Company’s new Roan copper concentrator faced continued water supply interruptions that severely hampered its ability to operate at design throughput levels.
The installation of the new dedicated water infrastructure and upgraded power and feed supply infrastructure have been completed successfully with the restart of operations back to nameplate capacity.
Significant progress continues to be made by Jubilee’s technical and operational teams, with the development and ramp-up to commercial level, of new extractive methods for the recovery of copper and cobalt from historical waste, at the Company’s Sable Refinery. These developments provide unique solutions to unlocking the value from vast copper and cobalt containing wastes.
Sable Copper Production Trial
As previously announced, the Company has been focused on a direct leaching approach which by-passes the need for traditional power intensive smelting of copper sulphide concentrates.
These trials have been extremely effective and not only allow for significantly lower operating costs, but also for Sable to produce copper from mixed materials such as copper sulphide and copper oxide ores.
Jubilee believes that this new approach to extraction offers significant growth opportunities in the country. As a result, the Company is examining new Run-Of-Mine material agreements with third party producers which offer the potential to further enhance growth for its operations at the Sable Refinery.
Sable Cobalt Production Update
As previously announced, Jubilee is targeting the initial production of 50 tonnes of contained cobalt metal which is the equivalent of approximately 220 tonnes of final product, before ramping up to the 1 200 tonnes of contained cobalt metal annual capacity, which equates to some 5 280 tonnes of final product. Cobalt production from waste remains in-line with management’s expectations.
Solving the technical challenges places the Company in a unique opportunity to pursue tremendous potential growth opportunities in the efficient recovery of cobalt from historical wastes, including also from mixed copper cobalt materials. The Company is currently considering to upscale the production of cobalt through the potential acquisition of refining infrastructures to expand its cobalt footprint in Zambia.
The additional cobalt revenue offers the Company further opportunities to secure metal backed funding in support of the implementation of the Northern Refining Strategy.
