After making Kamoa-Kakula (DRC) the largest copper mine in Africa, Ivanhoe Mines is now interested in Zambia, the second largest continental producer of red metal. The company, based in Canada, announced on April 2, 2025, that it had obtained a set of exploration licenses covering 7,757 km² in the North West Zambian province

After making Kamoa-Kakula (DRC) the largest African copper mine, Ivanhoe Mines is now interested in Zambia, Africa's second largest copper producer. The Canadian-based company announced on Wednesday April 2 that it had obtained a set of exploration licenses covering 7757 km² in Zambia's North-West province

ivanhoe will appoint environmental consultants during the second quarter of 2025 to develop an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for approval by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA). In parallel with this work, the company will analyze airborne geophysical data from the concession, as a prelude to the launch of an Air Core drilling program and the auger. This work will allow Ivanhoe's team of geologists to map the vast license area in detail, in order to define targets for future

Note that the newly acquired concession in Zambia is located 230 km north-east of the company's Congolese Western Forelands project. Ivanhoe indicates that this concession has geological similarities with copper discoveries made in the DRC, in particular at Kamoa-Kakula. The company is thus banking on the extension of the common copper belt between the DRC and Zambia

“Our entry into Zambia marks an exciting new chapter in Ivanhoe Mines' commitment to expanding our exploration footprint and testing the extent of the Central African copper belt... which is already the largest and richest sedimentary copper belt in the world,” explains Robert Friedland, president ex& Company executive