WELCOME To Sentinel Copper Mine Zambia
Brief about Sentinel Copper Mine Zambia
Sentinel Copper Mine located in the Kalumbila district of North Western Province, Zambia is owned and operated
Canadian-based First Quantum Minerals and the first product was extracted in August 2015.
The open-pit mine also holds one of the biggest copper reserves in the world.
Producing since 2016, the Sentinel copper mine is owned and operated by Kalumbila Minerals,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian metals and mining company First Quantum Minerals.
The Sentinel copper mine was estimated to contain 811.3 million tonnes (Mt) of proven
and probable ore reserves grading 0.5% copper, as of December 2018.
Sentinel Copper Mine Contains a part of a series of interesting geological exploration namely Sentinel Copper, Enterprise Nickel ,and Intrepid Copper. The Project Execution Model for this project involved an Owner Build approach whereby First Quantum Minerals Limited self-performed most site construction works and manage the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the project.
First Quantum became the owner of the Sentinel copper asset after acquiring Kiwara in a £208m ($260m) cash and share deal in January 2010.Kiwara had a controlling interest in the Trident prospecting license that included the Sentinel copper project (formerly Kalumbila copper deposit), as well as the Enterprise nickel project which is currently under development.The Sentinel copper mine was developed with an estimated investment of £1.9bn ($2.3bn), as part of the integrated Trident copper/nickel project by First Quantum..
Location, geology, and mineralisation
Brief Details
The Sentinel copper project is situated in the southern part of the Trident licensing area approximately 150km west of Solwezi, in the North Western Province of Zambia The Sentinel copper deposit is located on the Zambian Copperbelt
which forms part of the Domes Region within the western end of the Lufilian Arc.Lufilian Arc is a curvilinear structural belt in southern Africa that was formed during the Pan-African Orogeny.The copper mineralisation at the deposit is predominantly found in the form of chalcopyrite hosted
by metasedimentary carbonaceous phyllite.
The mine has produced 223,656t of copper by processing 13Mt of ore in 2018. Copper production during the third quarter of 2019 stood at 56,439t. The total copper production in 2019 was projected to be 230,000t.
The major focus for 2024-2026 at Sentinel will be on the development of Stage 3 (Western Cut-back) in order to enable improved mining productivities and increased availability of softer material from higher elevations.