Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has awarded a $63 million project to the Australian Firm Mancala for the construction and equipping of a new pump station at its Konkola Deep Mining Project (KDMP) in Chililabombwe. This project is believed to be a critical step in unlocking a substantial portion of KCM’s vast copper ore resources.
According to a statement signed by KCM Public Relations and Communications Manager, Victoria Kabwe Zimba, the two-year, two-month project (26 months) involves the excavation of sumps, settlers, and the main pump station at the 1,350m and 1,390m levels of the mine.
This new infrastructure is believed to be vital for dewatering a massive 283 million metric tonnes of ore, which is currently inaccessible due to dewatering constraints.
KCM’s Acting CEO, Malcolm Mewett, confirmed that the current deepest pump station is at the 985m level, making it unsafe to mine below 1,040m. He said this new station will address this limitation, enabling the safe extraction of resources between the 1,040m and 1,350m levels.
The KDMP is believed to be one of Zambia’s deepest shafts at 1,505m and holds a high-grade copper seam with over 291 million tonnes of ore resource, providing a mine life of at least 50 years. According to Mewett, the current dewatered resource represents less than three percent of the total Konkola resource, underscoring the importance of this new infrastructure.
“Our current dewatered resource only accounts for less than three percent of the total Konkola resource; therefore, we need a new pump station to be constructed at 1390m to allow for the dewatering of 283 million metric tonnes of ore resource between levels 1040m and 1350m.” He said.
Head of Special Projects at Konkola Copper Mines, Andre Trytsman said the actual equipping and construction of the pump station, electrical substations, and supply infrastructure to the current pump stations will follow after the excavation works.
“We will then install water-tight doors and penstocks required to contain the water in the workings in case of an emergency,” he added.
KCM officials say this development is also essential for the mine to meet its production target of 300,000 tonnes of copper by 2031, a goal that will contribute 10 percent to Zambia’s national copper production target of 3 million tonnes by the same year.
