Dual-listed Jubilee Metals’ Project Roan has started production of intermediate copper concentrate for refining at the company’s Sable Refinery, in Zambia.

The construction of Phases 2 and 3 remain on target.

The copper and cobalt tailings are located in three central locations, Project Roan, Project Elephant 1 and Project Elephant 2. Jubilee plans to build a processing facility at each of the three locations.

The extent of the processing facilities is determined by the refining capacity at its Sable Refinery, which is currently limited to 14 000 t/y, though Jubilee has a set target to expand its access to refining capacity, to achieve a targeted 25 000 t/y of copper.

The first of the processing facilities has entered its construction phase at Project Roan, which targets output of 10 000 t/y of equivalent copper units.

The processing facility will be commissioned over three phases to accelerate the delivery of copper units for further refining to the Sable Refinery.

The completion of Phase 1 was achieved on schedule on a slightly revised timetable owing to heavy rains in the region early this year, and delivery of the first copper units to the Sable Refinery has taken place.

Phase 1 targets the delivery of an additional 240 t of copper units a month, which will result in the first significant increase in production at the Sable Refinery. Phase 2, which is expected to be completed during the third quarter, targets a further increase in production to 400 t of copper units a month.

The Sable Refinery is fully operational and ready to start refining Project Roan's material and the delivery of this initial intermediate copper concentrate will significantly and rapidly add to the already achieved early earnings of £1.8-million from production during the first phase.

Looking forward, Jubilee says Phase 2 will further increase the amount and quality of intermediate copper concentrate delivered to the Sable Refinery for processing, and that the continuing rebound in the copper price is seeing it at a near ten-year high at the time of writing with analysts predicting further significant growth over the next 12 to 24 months driven by several long-term trends.

An increased environmental agenda globally and electrification are at the centre of this, with the proliferation of electric vehicles, the increased use of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and increased consumption of electronics.

In addition to Project Roan’s Phase 1 commissioning, Jubilee has entered into a long-term offtake agreement and the Sable Refinery is expected to start receiving third-party copper containing run-of-mine (RoM) material.

Under the terms of this agreement, the third-party RoM material will be ramped up to reach 150 t a month of delivered copper units by June 2021.

The Sable Refinery, meanwhile, is fully operational and ready to refine product received from Project Roan.

Jubilee CEO Leon Coetzer says that, alongside the continued performance of the miner’s South African platinum-group metals (PGMs) operations, the targeted significant ramp up of copper operations in Zambia is expected to further improve on Jubilee's recently published record interim results for the six-month period to December 31, 2020, generating long-term, quality earnings.

Further, Project Elephant is progressing simultaneously and is on track to enter the execution phase of the project by August this year, the company confirmed.

The completion of the design work for the company’s second copper processing facility, Project Elephant, whereby Jubilee has secured the rights to about 150-million tonnes of copper-containing surface tailings, is progressing well and remains on track to enter the execution phase for the project by August this year.

Project Elephant targets to reach the production of 12 000 copper units a year in addition to Project Roan by the end of 2022.