The Zambian government has granted TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines a 7 757 km² package of new exploration licences in the highly-prospective North-Western Province of Zambia.

Ivanhoe considers the strategically selected licence package as an opportunity to explore for an extension of the Central African Copperbelt.

As announced on September 10, 2024, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Ivanhoe Mines and the Republic of Zambia’s Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development.

Since then, the Ministry of Mines has assisted Ivanhoe’s geological team in identifying the prospective licence package and provided access to existing geological data.

The shared geological data also includes results from the country-wide airborne geophysical survey currently under way.

The new licence package is strategically located between Ivanhoe’s Western Forelands Exploration Project – 230 km to the north-east in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – and the company’s Angolan exploration licence package – 130 km south-west.

The Zambia licences cover an area over three times larger than the Western Forelands Exploration Project.

Ivanhoe’s geological team will begin exploration activities for new copper mineralisation associated with Basement Domes, Katangan-age sediment-hosted copper systems, and iron oxide/copper/gold (IOCG) systems.

The western edge of the Central African Copperbelt in the DRC hosts the Western Foreland Shelf, where the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex and the mineral resources of Makoko and Kiala in the Western Forelands are located.

Ivanhoe says its geological team believes the Western Foreland Shelf facies of the Nguba Group sediments continue to arc south-west into Zambia and Angola.

Based on this concept, Ivanhoe Mines also holds over 22 000 km² of exploration licences in Angola, as announced on November 27, 2023.

Concurrently, Ivanhoe continues to advance its massive exploration programme in the Western Forelands.

The 2025 exploration programme will be Ivanhoe’s largest ever, with $50-million dedicated to exploration activities – consisting of 102 000 m of diamond drilling and 18 000 m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling.

Ivanhoe is targeting an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Makoko area, including a MRE for Kitoko and Makoko West, next month.

"Today, we welcome Ivanhoe Mines’ new chapter into Zambia’s mining industry, one that promises jobs, growth and prosperity for our people.

“This new investment in copper exploration is not only about achieving our government’s vision of over three-million tonnes of copper production by 2031, it’s also about unlocking opportunities, empowering communities, and ensuring that our resources benefit every Zambian. Together, we will build an economy that works for all, with transparency, fairness, and a shared vision for the future,” says Zambia President Hakainde Hichilema.

“Our entrance into Zambia marks an exciting new chapter in Ivanhoe Mines’ commitment to expanding our exploration footprint and testing the extent of the Central African Copperbelt . . . which is already the world’s largest and highest-grade sedimentary Copperbelt,” says Ivanhoe co-chairperson Robert Friedland.

He explains that the company’s new licences in both Zambia and Angola have notable geological similarities to its “world-leading” discoveries in the DRC.

Friedland says the company will leverage its deep geological expertise and proven track record in the Western Forelands, where Ivanhoe’s geologists have discovered, including Kamoa-Kakula, over 50-million tonnes of high-grade contained copper to date.

“Our seasoned team of geologists is excited to begin work on these highly prospective licences . . . we believe there are plenty of new Tier 1 copper discoveries yet to be found under shallow Kalahari sands.

“We are particularly encouraged by the proactive support and collaborative approach demonstrated by the Zambian government, underscoring the country’s commitment to fostering a stable and investor-friendly mining environment.

“This includes a key role of partnership that Zambia is playing in terms of improving the regional hydroelectric power supply and distribution – where the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex is already a major importer of power via the Zambia interconnector.

“As global demand for copper continues to grow, Ivanhoe Mines looks forward to contributing to Zambia’s economic development, supporting local communities, and furthering our goal of finding the world’s next major copper deposits,” Friedland continues.

Much like the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex and the Western Forelands exploration project in the DRC, the Zambian licences represent an underexplored potential extension of the Central African Copperbelt, says Ivanhoe.

Working closely with the Ministry of Mines and leveraging its knowledge of the Central African Copperbelt, Ivanhoe’s geologists selected the Zambian licences based on a detailed review of available exploration data.

Ivanhoe says BHP Billiton flew airborne geophysics over sections of Ivanhoe’s licence package in the late 2000s, as part of a larger exploration programme across western and central Zambia targeting IOCG-style mineralisation.

BHP exited its African operations in 2015 and Ivanhoe says no work has been carried out on the licences since 2015.

In August 2024, the Zambia Ministry of Mines began a country-wide airborne geophysical survey that started in the west of the country, including over Ivanhoe’s new licence package.

The geophysical survey consists of a high-resolution airborne magnetics survey at 300-m line spacings. The shared results will expedite Ivanhoe’s exploration efforts, saving at least six months in acquisition time and costs.

Ivanhoe says, like Kamoa-Kakula and the Western Forelands, the Zambian and Angolan licences have had very little prior exploration activity, as they are covered by Kalahari sand cover, hiding any buried mineralisation.

The central portion of the newly approved Zambian licence package is highly prospective for copper mineralization hosted in Paleo-Proterozoic basement inliers buried below a blanket of Kalahari sands, containing sheared amphibolite-facies schists, granitic gneiss, and migmatite similar to Barrick’s Lumwana mine to the north-east, on the Mwombezhi Dome.

Ivanhoe says it engages technical contractors ahead of 2025 field programme, exploration activities expected to commence in the second quarter of this year.

Ivanhoe says it will appoint environmental consultants in the second quarter of 2025 to complete key environmental baseline studies and produce an environmental management plan (EMP) for approval by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency.

Initial engagements with local communities will also be undertaken prior to the mobilisation of field teams for ground surveys and drilling in the second half of the year.

A detailed review of historical and newly acquired airborne geophysical data will be carried out concurrently with the completion of the EMP.

Ivanhoe says it will conduct an extensive programme of aircore and auger drilling to collect soil geochemical data and additional airborne and ground-based geophysical surveys.

This work will enable the company’s geological team to map the giant licence area in detail to better understand the extent of the Basement Domes, Katangan sediments, and felsic magmatic intrusives that underlie the licence area.

Once this work has been completed, Ivanhoe says target generation for future diamond drilling will begin.