Canada-headquartered Ivanhoe Mines has withdrawn its 2025 production and cost guidance for the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), following renewed seismic activity that forced a fresh suspension of underground mining at the Kakula mine over the weekend.

Underground operations at Kakula were halted again on Sunday after seismic tremors persisted at the site, prompting the company to bring all personnel to surface and remove equipment from the mine. 

No injuries were reported, and the Phase 1 and 2 concentrators at the surface continue to operate using ore from stockpiles.

“While underground mining operations are temporarily suspended at Kakula, we are focusing our efforts on maintaining pumping and water management infrastructure, including accelerating procurement for dewatering equipment from surface,” said Ivanhoe Mines president and CEO Marna Cloete on Monday.

“We are working around the clock with the world’s foremost geotechnical experts to establish the cause of the issues we faced and how we will resolve them.”

Ivanhoe said preliminary assessments indicated that seismic activity could continue for several weeks, limiting access and potentially prolonging the shutdown. Water inflows into the mine have increased as a result of disrupted underground infrastructure, and the company, with support from joint venture partners Zijin Mining and CITIC Metal, is implementing expanded dewatering plans to stabilise conditions.

Remediation efforts are under way, particularly in the shallower western sections of the mine, where current dewatering capacity is about 1 000 ℓ/s. Ivanhoe aims to increase that to more than 3 000 ℓ/s and is also planning to install permanent high-capacity surface pumping systems across its mines.

“We are going to gain wisdom and experience from the events that have unfolded in the past week,” said Ivanhoe founder and executive co-chairperson Robert Friedland. 

“What has transpired will give us valuable insight into managing geotechnical conditions and maintaining critical pumping infrastructure, which will allow us to future-proof and safely restart mining operations at Kakula . . . and such learnings will be applied in earnest to our activities at Kamoa and in the Western Forelands.”

The Kamoa underground mine and Phase 3 concentrator remain unaffected and continue to operate normally.

“I remind readers that SpaceX – today responsible for approximately 90% of total payload launched into space by humanity – did not attain this status without numerous setbacks. Each setback brought their team new knowledge, making the mission stronger… and so we approach our operations at Kamoa-Kakula with the same mindset," said Friedland.

Ivanhoe stated that it remained committed to restoring Kakula’s underground operations as soon as it was safe to do so.