Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. has updated the Mineral Resource estimate for the Makoko District within its Western Forelands Exploration Project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, expanding contained copper by 30% to approximately 12 million tonnes.

The updated resource incorporates approximately 64,000 metres of diamond drilling completed across 106 holes since the previous estimate was announced on May 14, 2025. Indicated Mineral Resources now total 34 million tonnes at a grade of 2.66% copper, containing 0.90 million tonnes of metal at a 1% cut-off. In addition, Inferred Mineral Resources stand at 612 million tonnes at 1.80% copper, containing 11.0 million tonnes.

For the first time, Ivanhoe applied mineable shape optimization to the Makoko estimate, replacing block model reporting with constraints reflecting practical underground mining geometries, minimum mining widths, and stope dimensions.

Since the maiden Mineral Resource was released on November 13, 2023, the strike length of the Makoko District has increased by over 400% to 16 kilometres, while the total combined area has expanded by 300% to 61 square kilometres.

The Western Forelands Exploration Project comprises a majority-owned licence package covering 2,426 square kilometres, spanning an area over six times larger than the adjacent Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex.

“Today's interim update shows that the size of the Makoko District discovery within the Western Forelands continues to grow, firmly ranking Makoko by far as the world's largest and the highest-grade new copper discovery of the past decade… in an era when the desperate cries for new sources of copper are getting louder and fewer copper discoveries are being made.”

— Robert Friedland, Founder and Executive Co-Chairman

Project development at Makoko is planned to benefit from the prior rapid development of Kamoa-Kakula, which advanced from discovery to first production in under six years. Ivanhoe expects to commence a scoping study for the Makoko District in the first quarter of 2027, incorporating drilling results obtained after the March 31, 2026 data cut-off. The mine plan is expected to combine shallow open pits with underground operations.

Read the full announcement: Ivanhoe Mines Increases the Size of Massive Western Forelands' Copper Discovery by 30%