Jubilee Metals Group has initiated operations at its Roan Upgrade project in Zambia, marking a pivotal advancement in its goal to enhance copper processing capabilities. The project, featuring a newly constructed front-end section, aims to bolster the processing efficiency at the site, complementing the existing milling and flotation sections. This expansion increases Roan’s total capacity to a potential 13,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of copper.
Situated adjacent to the current operations, the new front-end addition at Roan is part of Jubilee’s broader strategy to expand its operational footprint. This strategy also includes ongoing upgrades at the Sable refinery, with an ambitious goal of achieving a combined processing capacity of 25,000 tpa of copper within the next year.
On 24 June 2024, Jubilee confirmed the civil and mechanical completion of the Roan Upgrade. The project has now advanced further with the installation and commissioning of the electrical control system (ECS), setting the stage for a production ramp-up. Jubilee’s team has started processing previously mined material at Roan. This material is upgraded at its source before being transported to Roan, where it is converted into saleable copper concentrate. For the time being, the concentrate produced at Roan will be refined into copper cathode at the Sable facility. This arrangement will continue until Sable’s capacity is fully dedicated to processing open-pit mined material from Munkoyo and Project G. Afterward, Roan’s copper concentrate will be sold on the open market.
Leon Coetzer, CEO of Jubilee Metals Group, expressed pride in the progress of the Roan Upgrade project, highlighting the significant efforts of the team to reach this stage. He anticipates the accelerated ramp-up of operations in the coming month, noting that the upgraded Roan facility, alongside the Sable refinery, provides Jubilee with remarkable processing flexibility. This, in turn, positions the company to aggressively pursue copper resources enabled by this enhanced capability.
Jubilee Metals Group plc (LON:JLP) is a diversified metal recovery business with a world-class portfolio of projects in South Africa and Zambia. The Company’s expanding multi-project portfolio across South Africa and Zambia provides exposure to a broad commodity basket including Platinum Group Metals, chrome, lead, zinc, vanadium, copper and cobalt.
