Jubilee Metals resumes full capacity operations at Roan

(Sharecast News) - Jubilee Metals said on Thursday that operations at its Roan concentrator in Zambia had resumed at full capacity after the successful completion of its scheduled annual maintenance shutdown in May.

The AIM-traded integrated copper producer and resource developer said Roan had returned to operations targeting run-of-mine throughput of 30,000 tonnes per month, while commissioning of its new fine copper concentrate dewatering facility had been completed.

Fine-tuning of performance measures is now underway to support stable continuous operations.

Jubilee said the maintenance period had also been used to upgrade the copper oxide flotation circuit, with the aim of improving copper recoveries and operating efficiencies, partly offsetting higher fuel and chemical costs.

Roan processes third-party run-of-mine copper ore into copper concentrates for further refining at the Sable refinery, while also producing high-grade copper sulphide concentrate for direct sale.

The concentrator has been upgraded over the past three years to handle variations in the quality and consistency of third-party ore.

The new dewatering circuit is designed to accelerate the drying and processing of fine copper concentrate material.

Jubilee said the fines concentrate stream accounts for about 25.5% of contained copper within Roan's total run-of-mine feed, and that the new circuit had demonstrated sufficient operating capacity at throughput rates above current fines concentrate production levels.

The company said optimisation work was focused on maintaining stable continuous operation under varying feed density conditions.

Roan also holds significant stocks of fine concentrate material that has naturally dried during the current dry weather period, allowing transport to Sable to supplement any temporary interruptions in dried fine concentrate production.

Jubilee said the shutdown had focused on the run-of-mine feed circuit, maintenance of internal pumping mechanisms in the flotation units and final modifications to the new fines dewatering circuit.

The group also used the downtime to implement measures to counter a sharp rise in global fuel and acid prices.

Those included expanding the copper oxide recovery circuit to target a further 5% improvement in copper efficiencies, partly offsetting an almost 80% increase in local fuel prices.

Jubilee said acid consumption and transport costs currently account for about 20% and 16% of monthly expenditure, respectively.

Chief executive Leon Coetzer said the progression of the dewatering circuit through commissioning and ramp-up marked "another important milestone" in the expansion of Jubilee's Zambia copper operations.

"The ability to process both newly generated fine concentrate material together with the historical stockpile provides increased operational flexibility and supports the continued scaling of our integrated copper strategy," he said.

Coetzer said May production had been affected by the planned shutdown, but that operational performance had returned to full capacity, with Roan targeting a 30,000-tonne-per-month run rate and higher copper oxide recovery rates from the expanded flotation circuit.

"We expect June 2026 performance to provide a clearer indication of sustainable operating capacity and recovery efficiencies with the addition of the fines concentrate from Roan now being processed at Sable," he added.

Jubilee said the success of the recovery improvements would become clearer over the coming week as Roan's in-circuit inventory is rebuilt under stable operations.

The company also has the option to further increase throughput by including the front-end DMS circuit, which will be considered during June.

The group said it expected to provide a further update on copper production guidance once steady-state performance had been demonstrated consistently across the integrated Roan and Sable processing circuits.

At 1145 BST, shares in Jubilee Metals Group were down 3.04% at 2.72p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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