Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project

Acid Plant Database January 9, 2026

Owner	Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project
Location	Lualaba Democratic Republic of Congo
Background	Joint Venture 38.6% Ivanhoe Mines 39.6% Zijin Mining Group 0.8% Crystal River Global Group 20.0% DRC
Website	www.ivanhoemines.com www.zijinmining.com
Plant	-
Coordinates*	10° 53' 15" S, 25° 10' 51" E
Type of Plant	Metallurgical
Gas Source	Copper Smelter Direct to Blister Flash Furnace
Plant Capacity	2,500 MTPD 783,000 MTPA
SA/DA	Pre-Converter 3/1 DA
Emissions	>99.9% conversion
Status	Construction
Year Built	2025
Technology	Flash Furnace: Metso-Outotec Acid Plant: MECS
Contractor	Nerin Engineering
Remarks	DynaWave based gas cleaning system Sodium Silicate System
Pictures
General	-
References	-
News	January 2, 2026 – Ivanhoe Mines Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland and President and Chief Executive Officer Marna Cloete announced that the first copper anodes were produced by Kamoa-Kakula’s on-site, state-of-the-art 500,000-tonne-per-annum direct-to-blister copper smelter on December 29, 2025, approximately five weeks after the commencement of the smelter’s heat-up and one week after the first feed of concentrate. Ivanhoe Mines’ Founder and Executive Co-Chairman Robert Friedland commented: “The first production of copper anodes from our world-class smelter is a defining moment for Kamoa-Kakula… This achievement is the culmination of a $1.1 billion investment, 18 million man-hours of disciplined execution, and an outstanding health and safety record that reflects the professionalism and commitment of everyone involved. “This facility will proudly deliver the highest-quality Congolese copper anodes to the international markets, setting a new global benchmark for scale, efficiency, and sustainability. I want to extend my sincere thanks to the extraordinary Kamoa Copper team, as well as our contractors and partners from across the world whose expertise, innovation, and teamwork made the design and delivery of this state-of-the-art facility possible. Together, we have built something exceptional that will serve global consumers for generations to come.” The ramp-up of the Kamoa-Kakula copper smelter will continue throughout 2026, with completion expected towards year-end. As announced on December 3, 2025, Kamoa-Kakula’s copper production is estimated at between 380,000 and 420,000 tonnes of copper in 2026, with the mid-point of 400,000 tonnes of copper representing approximately 80% of the smelter’s total capacity. Kamoa-Kakula’s management team will prioritize the processing of concentrates produced by the Phase 1, 2, and 3 concentrators through the on-site smelter, with any excess concentrate toll-treated at the Lualaba Copper Smelter (LCS), near Kolwezi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Heat-up and completion of hot commissioning of the smelter furnace, as well as boiler, steam systems, acid circuit and the concentrate dryer were completed in line with expectations. The furnace successfully reached its operating temperature of 1,250 degrees centigrade (2,282 degrees Fahrenheit) for five days prior to the first feed of concentrate. Prior to the first feed of concentrate into the smelter, Kamoa-Kakula’s on-site concentrate inventory contained approximately 37,000 tonnes of copper. Total unsold copper in concentrate at the smelter, held in stockpiles and the smelting circuit, is expected to be reduced to approximately 17,000 tonnes during 2026 as the smelter ramps up. Therefore, 2026 copper sales are expected to be approximately 20,000 tonnes higher than copper production as the on-site inventory of unsold copper concentrate is destocked, predominantly during H1 2026. As destocking occurs, Kamoa-Kakula’s management aims to capitalize on near-record-high copper prices. The installation of the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) facility was completed prior to the first feed of concentrate into the smelter, which took place on December 21, 2025. The 60-megawatt (MW) UPS is designed to provide up to two hours of instantaneous back-up power to the smelter, protecting the operation from voltage fluctuations in the domestic DRC grid. In addition, construction of Kamoa-Kakula’s 60 MW on-site solar (PV) facilities continues to progress well. The solar site, with battery storage, is expected to be the largest of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. The solar facilities are expected to be operational from Q2 2026, providing 24 hours a day of uninterruptible power, in addition to the approximately 180 MW of on-site diesel-powered, back-up generator capacity already in place. Kamoa-Kakula’s margins are expected to expand as the smelter ramps up, as concentrates produced by Phase 1, 2, and 3 concentrators are smelted on-site, rather than being exported unbeneficiated. Kamoa-Kakula’s logistics costs are expected to approximately halve as the copper content per truck-load exported more than doubles, from approximately 45% contained copper in concentrate to 99.7%-pure copper anodes. Further savings are expected to be also achieved through the significant revenues generated from sulphuric acid sales. In addition to the first production of copper anodes, the Kamoa-Kakula smelter also produced its first batch of by-product sulphuric acid. The smelter is expected to produce up to 700,000 tonnes per annum of high-strength sulphuric acid at steady-state operations, which will be sold locally. Sulphuric acid is in high demand by other mining operations across the Central African Copperbelt, especially following the export ban of acid by Zambia in September 2025. Spot acid prices have reached as high as $700 per tonne in Kolwezi in recent months. The first sale of acid by Kamoa-Kakula has already taken place, with the first delivery expected in the coming weeks. January 9, 2024 - The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex (Kamoa-Kakula), a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has partnered with Elessent Clean Technologies (Elessent) to install a new 2,500 metric tonne per day (MTPD) smelter off-gas MECS^® sulfuric acid plant. In conjunction with global EPC partner, China Nerin Engineering Co. Ltd. (NERIN), the new acid plant will be part of a new 500,000-tonnes-per-annum direct-to-blister flash copper smelter that is under construction at Kamoa-Kakula, as part of its Phase 3 expansion. Upon completion of the Phase 3 expansion, Kamoa-Kakula is projected to be the fourth largest copper operation globally. “At Kamoa-Kakula we aim to set a new industry standard by being the greenest major copper mine in the world. It helps that DRC not only has an incredible mineral endowment, but also has an abundance of clean hydroelectricity to power its mining industry. However, we also need the right technology to extract the copper in a sustainable way. By using the MECS^® acid plant design and its incorporated technologies, our new plant helps achieve our path to net zero,” said David Mitchell, Kamoa-Kakula’s Senior Project Manager for the smelter project. The MECS^® sulfuric acid process incorporates state-of-the-art technologies, such as the MECS^® pre-conversion technology and the MECS^® DynaWave^® gas cleaning technology. DynaWave^® scrubbers, the gold standard in gas cleaning applications, clean and condition the upstream off gas of the smelting furnace at the sulfuric acid plant. The MECS^® pre-conversion technology is a novel approach for processing off-gas streams with elevated sulfur-dioxide concentrations while consuming significantly less power. “Kamoa-Kakula is one of the world’s fastest-growing major copper operations. Partnering with NERIN on the mine’s greenfield smelter complex is very exciting. It is a great honor to work with the owners of what is anticipated to be one of the greenest major copper operations on the planet,” said Eli Ben-Shoshan, CEO, Elessent Clean Technologies. For decades, copper has been essential in industries like civil and building construction, machinery, and power transmission. Recently, however, copper demand has seen a steady increase due to its position as a critical metal in the energy transition, which includes electric vehicle (EV) technology. In fact, copper is one of the most vital metals in the energy transition and the shift to EVs. Copper is essential throughout the entire EV value chain, including use in everything from EV manufacturing to charging stations and supporting infrastructure. Because of the metal’s high durability, high conductivity, and efficiency, it has become indispensable to the industry. The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex has been in commercial operations since July 2021. The operation is currently undergoing its Phase 3 expansion, which will increase copper production to over 600,000 tons of copper per year from Q3 2024. November 18, 2021 - Ivanhoe Mines has awarded a 500,000 tonnes per annum direct-to-blister copper smelting plant contract for the Kamoa-Kakula Complex to China Nerin Engineering. The smelter will be the most extensive of its kind in Africa and one of the largest single-line flash smelters in the world. The $700 million project is expected to speed along Ivanhoe’s ambition to produce environmentally sustainable ‘green copper’ to feed into the emerging global energy transition. The smelter, supplied by Finland’s Metso Outotec, has been sized to process most of the copper concentrate forecast to be produced by Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1, 2 and 3 concentrators. The smelter is expected to be built concurrently with the project’s Phase 3 mine and concentrator expansion over the next three years and the upgrading of turbine five at the Inga II hydropower complex. Ivanhoe says an onsite smelting facility has compelling cost and environmental benefits, including reducing the volume of copper concentrate shipped from the mine by about 50%-plus and the associated logistics costs, export taxes and concentrate treatment charges. The smelter also will produce sulphuric acid as a by-product, creating a new revenue stream for Kamoa Copper. According to Ivanhoe, there is a strong demand and market for sulphuric acid in the DRC to recover copper from oxide ores. Kamoa-Kakula currently is producing an extremely high-grade, clean copper concentrate containing approximately 55% copper and low levels of arsenic by world standards – about 0.01%. Approximately 35% of Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 concentrate is sent to the local Lualaba smelter for processing into blister copper ingots – containing approximately 99% copper – while the remainder is transported via trucks and ships to international smelters for treatment. Kakula is projected to be the world’s highest-grade major copper mine, with an initial mining rate of 3.8 million tonnes per annum at an estimated average feed grade of more than 6% copper over the first five years of operations and 5.9% copper over the initial 10 years of operations. Phase 1 is expected to produce about 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, while the Phase 2 expansion is forecast to increase production to about 400,000 tonnes of copper annually. Kamoa Copper is on track to complete the Phase 2 expansion in the second quarter of 2022. Based on independent benchmarking, the project’s phased expansion scenario to 19 million tonnes per annum would position Kamoa-Kakula as the world’s second-largest copper mining complex, with peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes. The operation yielded its maiden profit in the first full quarter of operations. On November 15, the company reported a profit of $85.4 million for the three months to September 30. The Kamoa-Kakula 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 DRC (20%).

MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption

* Coordinates can be used to locate plant on Google Earth


Sulphuric Acid on the Web^TM	Technical Manual	DKL Engineering, Inc.