Jubilee Expands Molefe Copper Mining and Roan Processing in Zambia

Jubilee Metals has moved its Zambian copper strategy further into operating expansion, with mine stripping at Molefe and processing upgrades at Roan now feeding a broader push to lift copper output through the Sable refinery system.

Total saleable copper production for the nine months to March 31 reached 2,177 tonnes, up 28.7% from the comparable period. Roan production rose to 1,999 tonnes of copper units, while Sable refinery cathode output reached 957 tonnes. The uplift came as Jubilee continued to reposition its Zambian business around integrated mining, concentrating and refining rather than isolated third-party feed treatment. 

The most immediate operating lever is Molefe. The mine produced 250,162 tonnes of copper reef ore during the period, with 20,064 tonnes transported to Sable at an average grade of 1.84% copper. Development work is underway to combine Pits 2 and 3 into a single enlarged open pit, with the accelerated stripping programme expected to be completed by July 2026. More than 250,000 tonnes of pre-stripping material was removed during April. 

Once pit integration is complete, Jubilee expects Molefe to lift from about 12,000 tonnes per quarter to more than 30,000 tonnes per quarter of copper reef ore. The expanded open-pit configuration is designed to improve mining flexibility, support sustained ore delivery to Sable and give the company a more reliable mine-fed copper supply base. 

The processing side is also shifting. Production of dewatered copper concentrate has commenced at the newly expanded Roan concentrate dewatering facility, with commissioning near completion and ramp-up scheduled through May. The circuit is operating at about 75% of its targeted 110 to 120 tonnes per month of contained copper and has a design capacity of about 230 tonnes per month, allowing treatment of both historical fine concentrate stockpiles and ongoing fine concentrate output. 

That matters operationally because the fine copper concentrate stream had previously been stockpiled at Roan. Once dewatered, it can be moved to Sable for further refining into copper cathode, adding an incremental production stream rather than relying only on conventional oxide concentrate and sulphide concentrate output. 

Jubilee’s copper business is spread across Roan in Ndola, Sable in Kabwe and mining assets including Molefe. The company describes Roan as its Zambian copper concentrator and Sable as its multi-metal refinery in Kabwe, while its copper strategy targets a build-out of integrated mining, concentrating and refining capacity in Zambia. 

The expansion is not yet a steady-state result. Guidance remains under review pending confirmation of progress at Molefe and stable performance from the expanded Roan dewatering circuit. The operating trajectory, however, is now anchored in mined ore growth, higher concentrator utilisation and a refinery system being fed by multiple streams.