Jubilee Metals, a metals-processing company, said it has made significant progress in the development and ramp-up to commercial level of "new extractive methods" for the recovery of copper and cobalt from historical waste at its Sable refinery in Zambia.
The company has been focused on a direct leaching approach which bypasses 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," the group said in a statement.
Jubilee – which processes chrome and Platinum Group Metals from mining waste in South Africa – is rapidly evolving and expanding its operational footprint and project portfolio.
The Jubilee share price was up 9% in Monday's trade to R2.40 a share.
In bypassing the need to smelt the material, the new way of producing copper in Zambia is less costly and energy intensive. "This new extraction approach allows for multiple ores to be produced at once, similar to what we have achieved at our Inyoni PGM plant in South Africa," said Jubilee CEO Leon Coetzer. "This is a game-changer for Jubilee and opens new opportunities beyond our existing operations in Zambia."
As a result, the company is examining new run-of-mine material agreements with third-party producers that offer the potential to further enhance growth for its operations at the Sable Refinery.
Jubilee is targeting the initial production of 50 tonnes of contained cobalt metal, before ramping up to 1 200 tonnes of contained cobalt metal annual capacity.
Jubilee on Monday announced it has also completed a water infrastructure upgrade at its Roan copper concentrator in Zambia which has faced continued water supply interruptions that severely hampered its ability to operate at design throughput levels.
"The installation of a new dedicated water infrastructure and upgraded power and feed supply infrastructure have been completed successfully with the restart of operations back to nameplate capacity," Jubilee said.