Australia's KGL Approves Final Investment Decision for Jervois Copper Mine and Launches Full-Scale Construction

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 15, Australian mining company KGL Resources announced that its board of directors has formally approved the final investment decision (FID) for the Jervois copper project in the Northern Territory, authorizing the project to enter the full-scale construction execution phase. The project is located approximately 380 kilometers northeast of Alice Springs, with a planned ore processing capacity of 2 million tonnes per year. During steady-state production, it is expected to produce approximately 30,000 tonnes of copper per year, with first copper concentrate planned for the first half of 2028. Currently, approximately 60% of the total project cost has been covered by formally signed contracts, with construction funding comprising existing cash, equity financing, and precious metals prepayment arrangements.

The Jervois project is planned as a combined open-pit and underground operation. The open-pit mining areas include Reward and Bellbird, while the underground mining areas involve Reward, Rockface, Bellbird, and Marshall. The project's mineral resource estimate is 27.45 million tonnes at an average copper grade of 1.87%, containing approximately 513,400 tonnes of copper, along with approximately 22.37 million ounces of silver and approximately 214,500 ounces of gold. The current development plan adopts an initial 10-year mine life, with ore from different mining areas planned to be processed uniformly through the site concentrator.

KGL has signed a design, procurement, and construction contract with Sedgman, a subsidiary of the CIMIC Group, for the concentrator. The works include crushing, grinding, flotation, thickening, and related utilities, with a designed annual processing capacity of 2 million tonnes, producing a single copper concentrate product. Procurement of major long-lead equipment is already underway, including grinding equipment, flotation cells, and IsaMill ultrafine grinding equipment. The project also plans to build a 10 MW power generation facility, water supply wellfield and water conveyance system, tailings storage facility, construction roads, airstrip, and 250-person accommodation facilities.

Construction camp development, renovation of the existing exploration camp, demolition of historical processing facilities, crushing and screening of construction aggregates, and water source development are already underway at the mine site. Seventy-two construction camp rooms have been installed on site, with an additional 180 accommodation units under construction. KGL is advancing tendering and negotiations for engineering contracts covering water pipeline supply and installation, civil construction, accommodation camps, and on-site office facilities, while the mining services agreement has also entered final negotiations.

Project construction funding includes approximately A$300 million in equity financing completed in 2026, as well as a US$300 million gold-silver by-product prepayment agreement signed with Wheaton Precious Metals. The latter remains subject to the conditions precedent stipulated in the agreement for fund drawdown. KGL has also arranged a mine-site exploration program of approximately A$20 million from 2026 to 2028, conducting resource extension drilling and magnetotelluric geophysical surveys.

According to the latest implementation plan, the Jervois project is expected to commence open-pit mining in mid-2027, enter the concentrator commissioning and ramp-up phase in 2028, with a plan to reach design processing capacity in approximately 6 months, and begin underground mining development in 2029. Once at steady state, the project is expected to produce approximately 30,000 tonnes of copper per year, while also recovering silver and gold by-products.