Ivanhoe Mines reports strong Q1 progress

Ivanhoe Mines has released its financial results for Q1 2025, along with an update on operations and project development

The announcement was made by president and CEO Marna Cloete and chief financial officer David van Heerden.

The Canadian mining company is advancing four core projects in Southern Africa: expanding the tier-one Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex in the DRC; ramping up the Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium mine, also in the DRC; building the tier-one Platreef mine in South Africa, which contains platinum, palladium, rhodium, nickel, gold, and copper; and exploring the Western Forelands region, home to the Makoko, Kitoko, and Kiala copper discoveries. Unless noted otherwise, all figures are in U.S. dollars.

Founder and co-chairman Robert Friedland shared optimism about the company’s performance.

“Ivanhoe Mines is proud to report strong financial and operational performance in the first quarter of 2025, reflecting the significant efforts of our team and the broad shoulders of the world-class Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex.

“As we announced earlier this month, the initiatives to overcome power challenges and secure sustainable short, medium, and long-term energy sources for the growth of the world’s most important copper mine are beginning to bear fruit.

“Kamoa-Kakula is set for record production in the shorter month of April, achieving approximately 50,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate, equivalent to an annualised rate of over 600,000 tonnes – a remarkable achievement. This will provide the basis from which to continue our growth in 2026, including our optimization projects such as Project 95, even before the Phase 4 expansion.

“The start-up of Africa’s largest and greenest direct-to-blister smelter is just a few weeks away, which transforms Kamoa-Kakula into a fully integrated, low-cost, multi-generational supermajor copper complex. First production of 99+% pure copper anodes is expected in July. This milestone will lower transportation costs by more than 50% per unit of contained copper while enabling us to sell by-product sulphuric acid locally to meet rising demand in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s copper industry.

“Exploration continues to play a vital role in our future growth. On our Western Forelands licenses, we are making significant progress and will release an interim Mineral Resource update by mid-May. This update will highlight the immense potential of this highly prospective region adjacent to Kamoa-Kakula.”