Rainy season3 Jan 2026 11:12
I've asked Gemini to explain why Jubilee are saying that production may be affected by the rainy season. Usually December through to April. Here is the answer below. Interesting.
For the 2026 financial year, Jubilee Metals has updated its copper production guidance to 4,500–5,100 tonnes, noting that the final figure is highly contingent on the severity of the Zambian rainy season.
Rainfall impacts Jubilee's operations in several key ways:
Logistics and Haulage: Heavy rains can damage access roads and disrupt the transport of ore from mining sites, such as the Molefe open-pit mine, to processing plants.
Operational Delays: Jubilee has deferred certain expansion projects, including increasing throughput from historical tailings and introducing a new front-end at the Roan concentrator, until after the rainy season to ensure stable implementation.
Pit Access: In open-pit operations like Molefe, saturated ground and water accumulation in the pits can prevent access to working faces and reduce mining rates.
Chemical Sensitivity: Facilities like the Sable refinery use hydrometallurgical processes (SX-EW) that are sensitive to interruptions. Any downtime caused by storm-related power flickers or infrastructure damage can degrade leach chemistry and raise unit costs.
Supply Chain Disruptions: Heavy rain can cause "acid supply tightness" if regional smelters that provide reagents for Jubilee's processes are forced to scale back.
To mitigate these risks for 2026, Jubilee has been strengthening infrastructure, including improving drainage on access roads and at the Molefe mine.
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