Zambian Government's Mining Sector Reforms

This is in addition to the Zambian government's pledge to restructure the country's mining sector, ease the difficulty of doing business in the country, and raise the investment environment for mining in the country.

S3 Expansion at Kansanshi

The S3 Expansion will include a standalone 25 million mt/year processing plant with a new larger mining fleet, which would increase Kansanshi's total throughput to 53 million mt/year. This will extend the life of Kansanshi to 2044, allowing the operation to produce approximately 250,000 mt/year of copper, the company added.

Alongside the mine and processing plant expansion, the company said it would be lifting the Kansanshi smelter's throughput capacity to 1.65 million mt/year of concentrate from the current 1.38 million mt/year maximum. This will allow the smelter to produce over 400,000 mt/year of copper anode.

It said the first production from S3 Expansion at Kansanshi is expected in 2025.

Approval of New Nickel Project

First Quantum, the world’s seventh-largest producer of copper, also said May 8 it had approved the development of a new nickel project, once again located in Zambia.

The planned greenfield Enterprise nickel project was located about 12 kilometers from the company Sentinel copper mine and would involve a single, main open pit and one southwest extension, and utilize the existing 4 million mt/year nickel circuit that was originally constructed as part of the Sentinel processing complex, the company added.

Enterprise Nickel Project Development

The development of the $100 million Enterprise project will take about a year. The project will produce an average of 30,000 mt/year of nickel in high-grade concentrate at full production. Initial nickel production ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 mt will be produced in 2023, the company said.

First Quantum said the S3 Expansion and Enterprise nickel project are central to the company's brownfield growth strategy. S3 Expansion would boost production at these operations and extend the mine life of Kansanshi by two decades and the cost-effective, high-grade Enterprise nickel project is well positioned to support the burgeoning electric vehicle battery market.

First Quantum and the Zambian government have also settled "all points of contention that have previously blocked progress" at the S3 Expansion and Enterprise nickel project. This involves settling the disputed value-added tax receivable amount and a repayment plan by way of offsets against future mining taxes and royalties, the company added.

“The granting of these two authorizations marks a significant step for the company on its journey to responsibly produce the metals required to facilitate the global green energy transition,” said Tristan Pascall, Chief Executive Officer of First Quantum.