Jubilee Metals Group has begun operations at its Roan Upgrade project in Zambia, marking a significant step in the company's strategy to increase its copper processing capacity.

The Roan Upgrade project, which includes a newly constructed front-end section, is designed to enhance the processing capabilities at the site.

This addition complements the existing milling and flotation sections, increasing Roan's total capacity to a maximum of 13,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of copper.

Adjacent to the current operations, the new front-end capacity at Roan is part of Jubilee's broader initiative to expand its operational capacity.

This strategy also encompasses the ongoing Sable refinery upgrade, with the aim of achieving a combined processing capacity of 25,000tpa of copper within the next 12 months.

On 24 June 2024, Jubilee announced the civil and mechanical completion of the Roan Upgrade.

The project has now reached another milestone with the installation and commissioning of the electrical control system (ECS), paving the way for production ramp-up.

The Jubilee team has initiated the processing of previously mined material at Roan.

This material undergoes an upgrading process at the source before being transported to Roan, where it is transformed into a saleable copper concentrate.

For the interim, the copper concentrate produced at Roan will be refined into copper cathode at the Sable facility.

This arrangement will continue until Sable's capacity is fully allocated to processing open-pit mined material from Munkoyo and Project G.

Subsequently, Roan's copper concentrate will be traded on the open market.

Jubilee Metals Group CEO Leon Coetzer  said: “We are proud to announce that the Roan front-end module upgrade project in Zambia has commenced production ramp-up of previously mined material, which has been upgraded at source, prior to producing a saleable copper concentrate at Roan.

“It has taken a concerted effort by the team to reach this critical point in the ramp-up of the Roan Upgrade project. I look forward to the team completing an accelerated ramp-up of operations during the coming month.

“The upgraded Roan, together with our Sable refinery, offers Jubilee tremendous processing flexibility and affords us the unique opportunity to aggressively pursue copper resources that are unlocked by this capability.”