Operations & Projects

Ivanhoe’s 2024 exploration budget has increased to approximately $90 million and will focus on activities around the recent Kitoko discovery, as well as testing additional new targets developed considering the Company’s evolving geological understanding.

The goals of the expanded 2024 exploration effort will 1) expand the Kitoko copper discovery with additional drill rigs, 2) advance the understanding of the Makoko and Kiala deposits and optimize studies for near-term copper mine production on Ivanhoe’s majority-owned licences, and 3) continue to evaluate high-priority targets across the Western Forelands, based on Ivanhoe’s fast-evolving proprietary database and geologic models for additional tier-one, high-grade copper discoveries.

Makoko – The world’s fourth-largest copper discovery over the past decade

Makoko, first discovered in 2018, is situated approximately 20 kilometres west of the Kakula deposit, along strike on the roughly E-W trending Monwezi regional structure controlling high-grade copper mineralization at Kakula.

The Makoko Mineral Resource has been defined by drilling covering a total area of 15.9 square kilometres within the much larger Makoko exploration area. The total areal extent of Indicated Resource is 1.1 square kilometres at a 1.0% cut-off and 14.8 square kilometres for the Inferred Resource at a 1.0% cut-off. The average dip of the mineralized zone in the Mineral Resource area is 14 degrees.

The Mineral Resource estimate is based on the results from approximately 50,000 metres of drilling in 148 holes. An additional 20 holes totaling more than 2,800 metres have been completed since the closure of the database for resource estimation purposes.

Makoko Discovery Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources at a 1.0% cut-off grade.

Notes:
1. Ivanhoe’s Senior Exploration Geologist, Tim Dunnett, a Member of the Geology Society of South Africa and Professional Natural Scientist (Pr. Sci. Nat) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), estimated the Mineral Resources that were reviewed by Jeremy Witley, Pr.Sci.Nat SACNASP, FGSSA, who is the Qualified Person for the Mineral Resource estimate. The effective date of the estimate is 4 September 2023, and the cut-off date for drill data is 28 February 2023. Mineral Resources are reported using the CIM 2014 Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources are reported on a 100% basis. Ivanhoe holds an indirect 80% interest in the Makoko SA mining licences and 100% interest in the Lufupa exploration licences (see Table 6).
2. Mineral Resources are reported for Makoko using a total copper (TCu) cut-off grade of 1% TCu and a minimum vertical thickness of 3m. There are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction under the following assumptions: copper price $4.00/lb; employment of underground mechanized drift-and-fill mining methods; copper concentrates will be sold to the Kakula smelter or toll treated; average metallurgical recovery is 87.5%; mining costs are assumed to be $38/t; concentrator, tailings treatment, and general and administrative costs are assumed to be $15/t; smelter, refining and transport costs are assumed to be $13.5/t of ore at the cut-off grade; royalty of 3.5%, export tax of 1% and concentrate tax of $100/t NSR concentrate.
3. Reported Mineral Resources contain no allowances for hanging wall or footwall contact boundary loss and dilution. No mining recovery has been applied.
4. Approximate drill hole spacings are 400 m to 600 m for Inferred Mineral Resources and 200 m for Indicated Mineral Resources.
5. Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content.

Makoko Discovery Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, sensitivity cases.

Kiala

Kiala, discovered in 2020, adjoins the northern boundary of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence and is a northern extension of mineralization from this licence along a north-trending controlling growth structure, where a sulfur-rich siltstone layer is brought progressively closer to, and eventually overlain on the aquifer. This onlapping relationship brings two key mineralizing controls in contact with one another, resulting in a zone of high-grade mineralization parallel to the growth fault.

The Kiala Mineral Resource has been defined by drilling covering an area of 0.9 square kilometres. The average dip of the mineralized zone within the Indicated Resource is 9 degrees.

The Mineral Resource estimate is based on the results from approximately 13,000 metres of drilling in 35 holes. An additional four holes totaling more than 1,650 metres have been completed since the closure of the database for resource estimation purposes.

Kiala Discovery Indicated Mineral Resource at a 1.0% cut-off grade.

Notes:

1.     Ivanhoe’s Senior Exploration Geologist, Tim Dunnett, a Member of the Geology Society of South Africa and Professional Natural Scientist (Pr. Sci. Nat) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), estimated the Mineral Resources that were reviewed by Jeremy Witley, Pr.Sci.Nat SACNASP, FGSSA, who is the Qualified Person for the Mineral Resource estimate. The effective date for the estimate is 12 September 2023, and the cut-off date for the drill data is 8 September 2023. Mineral Resources are reported using the CIM 2014 Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources are reported on a 100% basis. Ivanhoe holds an indirect 80% interest in the Makoko SA mining licences and 100% interest in the Lufupa exploration licences (Table 7).
2.     Mineral Resources are reported using a total copper (TCu) cut-off grade of 1% TCu and a minimum vertical thickness of 3m. There are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction under the following assumptions: copper price $4.00/lb; employment of underground mechanized drift-and-fill mining methods; copper concentrates will be sold to the Kakula smelter or toll treated; average metallurgical recovery is 87.5%; mining costs are assumed to be $38/t; concentrator, tailings treatment, and general and administrative costs are assumed to be $15/t; smelter, refining and transport costs are assumed to be $13.5/t of ore at the cut-off grade; royalty of 3.5%, export tax of 1% and concentrate tax of $100/t NSR concentrate.
3.     Reported Mineral Resources contain no allowances for hanging wall or footwall contact boundary loss and dilution. No mining recovery has been applied.
4.     Approximate drill hole spacings are 200 m for Indicated Mineral Resources.
5.     Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content.

Kiala Discovery Indicated Mineral Resource, sensitivity cases.

Kitoko – Ivanhoe’s fifth largest high-grade sedimentary copper discover in the DRC

The Kitoko discovery is approximately 25 kilometres west of the ultra-high-grade Kakula Mine, and five kilometres south and southeast of the Makoko deposit and is located inside a package of newly acquired joint venture licences in the Western Foreland.

Like the Kamoa and Kakula deposits, copper mineralization at Kitoko is hosted in the lowest reductant sedimentary layer within the Grand Conglomerate but differs from other deposits in the region in that the reductant layer directly overlies the Kibaran Basement rocks with no underlying Mwashia sandstones. This is significant as Ivanhoe Mines’ exploration team had previously postulated that the sandstones are the primary sedimentary aquifer allowing the circulation of oxidized copper-bearing basinal fluids, which precipitated copper when they were brought into contact with overlaying pyrite-rich reduced sediments. The Kitoko discovery proves the potential for copper mineralization to occur across a wider variety of underlying aquifer conditions rather than being limited to areas where the Mwashia sandstones are present.

Mineralization at Kitoko also occurs across at least two distinct, high-grade, sedimentary horizons emphasizing the strength of the mineralizing system, as sufficient copper remains in the fluid following the interaction with the lower reductant to be able to mineralize a second horizon.

Wide spaced drilling is continuing at Kitoko to define the limits of mineralization, which remains open in all directions. Infill resource drilling will begin once the extent of the mineralized system has been confirmed.

Exploration will continue to test other high-value exploration targets in conjunction with the continued drilling of Kitoko in 2024 and beyond.