Ivanhoe Mines has announced a significant expansion of its Makoko copper discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), extending the strike length to over 13 kilometers. This milestone comes alongside the expansion of the Kitoko discovery and the acquisition of substantial new licenses in the Western Forelands.

The company's 2024 drilling campaign, the largest to date with over 80,000 meters of diamond drilling, has yielded exceptional results. Notably, the discovery of the "Makoko West" extension has revealed shallow, high-grade copper mineralization, significantly boosting the overall strike length of the Makoko mineralized district by 20%. This 13-kilometer strike length is now comparable to that of the Kakula orebody at the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex, highlighting the potential scale of the Makoko deposit.

"In 2024, Ivanhoe geologists completed another landmark year across the Western Forelands as we continue to discover more Kamoa-Kakula-style copper mineralization on our adjacent majority-owned licenses," stated Robert Friedland, Executive Co-Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines. He emphasized the achievement of drilling over 80,000 meters, exceeding their original target, and the enhanced understanding of the Makoko-Kitoko mineralized system.

The Makoko West extension, with its shallow, high-grade copper intercepts between 120 and 300 meters from surface, presents a promising area for potential future mine development. Furthermore, the company has acquired an 80% interest in 336 square kilometers of new exploration licenses west of Makoko West, expanding their total Western Forelands license area to 5.5 times the size of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex.

Exploration activities have already commenced on these new licenses, including a soil sampling program covering 200 square kilometers. The results of these analyses, combined with geophysical data, will inform the 2025 drill target generation. Ivanhoe has also mobilized two new diamond drill rigs for a 32,000-meter drilling program on these new licenses, scheduled to begin at the start of the dry season.

In addition to the Makoko expansion, drilling at the Kitoko discovery continues to define high-grade, Kakula-style zones of mineralization. The 2024 drilling program at Kitoko, totaling 32,590 meters, has consistently intersected high-grade copper mineralization at depths exceeding 1,000 meters.

Ivanhoe Mines has announced a group-wide exploration budget of $75 million for 2025, with $50 million allocated to the Western Forelands. This budget will support 102,000 meters of diamond drilling and 18,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling. Preparations have been made to continue drilling through the wet season, with six diamond drill rigs operating and plans to increase the total rig count to 11 once the dry season begins.